Shield Inc: Revenge of the Architect (Pt 2)
by DeansDirtyDeeds
Summary: AU! Shield Inc. is a Manhattan based security company, run by three former NAVY SEALS. Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins provide security for yourself, your home and your data. When Seth' girlfriend and Shield Inc. secretary Claire is attacked by someone unknown all three guys want revenge. Most of all Seth when he finds out it is someone from his past!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own any of the WWE characters, they are owned by WWE.

I do own the O/Cs Lilly, Claire and Danielle!

English is not my native tongue, so there will be mistakes (mostly grammar mistakes) so please put that into consideration when reviewing this story.

This story is a three part deal. This is the second part and it centers around Seth & Claire!

Check out: **Shield Inc.: Saved by the Lunatic** for the first part!

Every guy will have his own story, but there will always be a lot of Dean in it.

This story is **AU (alternate universe)**, but some wrestling character pop up here and there and there will be some references, cleverly placed I might add. :) If you don't like AU stories, please don't read it, thanks.

**Chapter 1**

Seth Rollins watched with wondrous eyes the easy interaction between his brother Dean and his girlfriend Lilly.

If someone would have told him six month ago that Dean would look this relaxed in the company of other people even bordering on happy he would have told them to fuck off. But Dean grabbed the plates Lilly gave him and brought them over to the table. His brother ignored the gazes he earned and walked back to the stove to get the next plate. "Is there enough?" Lilly whispered and Dean kissed her temple. "Doll, we can even feed half the block with this. It's fine. And honestly, when its gone its gone."

He put another plate in front of Seth and Seth couldn't help but tease:" I didn't know you could cook." "I can't. But I recently got promoted to kitchen help. I am working on becoming her sous chef though."

Roman who just had his beer bottle between his lips smirked. The big Samoan maybe enjoyed the recent changes in Dean the most. And he couldn't deny how happy he was for Seth and Claire. The woman with the auburn hair who manned their front desk at Shield Inc. and Seth his brother from another mother were a cute couple. They had been circling around each other for over three years before admitting their feelings for one another.

Now Claire playfully slapped Seth for his comment about Dean. "I wish you would help me in the kitchen more often." she scolded him. "I do help. Eating your food." he admitted and everyone laughed.

Dean and Lilly finally joined Roman, Claire and Seth at the table and they could start their dinner. Lilly had invited them over as a very late but very heartfelt way to say _thank you_ to them.

3 month ago she had stumbled over two corrupt cops who killed a man and she had it all on video. In search for help she had turned to the guys from Shield Inc. a Manhattan based security company because she had met the three handsome owners countless times on her way to work and liked especially Roman and Seth. Dean scared her half to death most of the time. Yet it was the man with the unruly hair and the wild blue eyes who would protect her from the police and save her in the end. And she repaid her debts by saving him from his chosen hermit ways and path of self-destruction. Well she worked on the latter because he still worked for the government after being a SEAL for over ten years together with the two other men at the table. But she was sure he would quit his work for the government soon. With the right persuasion.

But tonight was about saying thank you to these three men because they wouldn't take her money even acted insulted when she offered it. And it was saying thank you to Claire who became a great friend during these past weeks.

"Well before you all tear into the food let me say thank you to all of you again. You never gave me a chance to say properly thank you and I hope you will enjoy the dinner. Without you I wouldn't be here today and even though the whole event was hard on me it brought something good with it." She looked over at Dean who even blushed a little.

"So thank you again for saving me. To heroes, saviors and good friends." They clicked their beer bottle and wine glasses together. The men had opted for a beer the two women had a nice wine with their food.

Dinner was fine and fun and Lilly couldn't count the many praises the guys had for her food. "I wish you would have brought Dani over." Lilly told Roman in a quiet moment and the big guy smirked. "And ruin a nice dinner because she and Dean would have shot daggers at each other?" "They need to bury this." "I hear you Lilly but it is up to them and not to us. In the mean time I am fine being the fifth wheel. It is great to see my two brother's happy especially Dean. You are good for him. Thank you for sticking by him."

"It's not that hard. He is a good guy." She looked over at Dean, Seth and Claire who were cleaning the dishes.

After the dinner the five sat down in the living room and Claire picked up the newspaper from the table. "This serial rapist is still not caught. He already raped 4 women. Bastard."

The men looked grim. "I bring Lilly to work and pick her up until this is over. It bothers me that he is targeting this part of Manhattan." Dean said and Seth added: "Women should be really careful right now. I hate it Claire that you still use the subway." "I am fine there. Its just two stops and plenty of people. I am fine."

"Dani leaves the house with a can of pepper spray and Josh often picks her up after work just in case."

"Josh? Isn't he like 5 years old and 3 feet?" Dean asked and Roman grinned. "Nah he turned 16 last month and is a good 6 feet tall. Gawky yes, but he will fill the frame in no time."

"Just like his dad." Seth mumbled and looked at Roman. "Yes, just like me."

The topics moved on to weight lifting and healthy diets and after that the switched on the TV. Dean zapped through the channels until he stopped at the movie Speed that had just started. Keanu Reeves as Jack in that movie just stated, that in a hostage scenario, he would shoot the hostage in order to eliminate the hostage-taker.

Lilly looked at the men. "Is that really a scenario that could work? Shoot the hostage?"

"It would be highly unconventional and a last resort." Seth explained. "I would do it in a heartbeat." Dean pointed out dead serious and Roman rolled his eyes.

"If the shooter is an expert marksman and manages to really just wound the hostage I would be down with it." Claire mused and looked at Seth smirking.

"I wouldn't shoot you. Ever." He told her and held her close.

"Dean?" Lilly asked and Dean widened his eyes. "Are you asking me if I would shoot you?"  
"Yes I do." "I am an expert marksman." He answered.

"Fools. Both of you." Roman said. "Dani would have my balls if I pointed a gun at her. Even if it would be to save her."

They continued to watch the old movie and around 11 pm Seth and Dani as well as Roman left their hosts.

Seth drove Claire home and followed her inside.

"It is still so foreign to me seeing Dean and Lilly. Did you notice that they were constantly touching? I can count the number of times Dean touched me or even you guys voluntarily in the last three years on one hand."

"He is in love with her. He is still trying to fight it, but I overheard a call he made to Big Brother (the government) telling them that he wants to quit. And his therapy is helping him as well. He is getting better step by step. He will probably always have a short fuse and he will never be 100 % sane but he will be alright. Thank God for Lilly because I really would have hated it to bury him before his time."

"Yeah, he grows on you in his own special way. It's just sad that Dani never joins us."

"One day they will talk I guess and hopefully things change then. But for now Dani is hell-bent to hate Dean."

"I hope they work it out. It's sad to see Roman all by himself. I can't believe his kid is 15 already."

"Yeah, time doesn't stop."

The couple was in the bedroom by now and suddenly stopped talking.

"Well, we still have some time left of today. Wanna use them properly?" Seth asked suggestively and Claire walked over to him, running her hands over his chest. "You wear way too many clothes Seth. I like you in a suit and all but I like you even more in your birthday suit."

Seth grinned cheekily. "Why don't you do something against this injustice then?"

Claire set her hands to work and opened the buttons of his dress shirt until she could run her hands over his firm chest, skin on skin. "Look at this six pack." she praised and Seth looked down at her hands as she ran her red nails over his abs.

Claire looked up with him and licked her lips. "Will it taste as good as the six pack you guys just had?" Seth growled quietly. "Why don't you go and find out?" he told her.

Claire grinned. "I will do that." She pushed his dress shirt over his shoulder and started to kiss his sculpted shoulders. First the left, then she trailed kisses along his collar bones to his right shoulder and from there she went deeper, gracing his right pec on her way down until she could run her tongue over his abdomen. His muscles were well defined down there, he had a true six pack and she ran her tongue over very single muscle.

When she started to undo the buttons of his pants he stopped her and pulled her up gently by the hair. "Not tonight you little vixen." he grunted and pushed her onto the bed, opening his pants himself and pushing them as well as his underwear of his body in one quick move. His shoes were out by the time his pants hit his ankles and he stepped out of all the clothes and Claire looked at him savoring the view. She used the time to get rid of her own blouse and opened her skirt. He stopped her from pulling it down though.

"Let me." And he did appreciating every inch of skin he set free on the way down.

When he worked his way up again he didn't bother with her blouse or her bra. He simply pulled her breast out to kiss them as he positioned himself above her, grinding his hips against hers.

"Stop teasing me Seth." Claire moaned and he guided himself inside of her and started to pump into her at a slow but steady rhythm.

When he felt like he couldn't take it much longer he quickened his pace and touched her clit and soon they came together.

"Stay the night." Claire pleaded as Seth rested above her, too tired to pull away right now.

"That sounds like an excellent plan." he mumbled.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sit down for this...just a friendly suggestion. **

**Chapter 2**

Claire rubbed her tired eyes. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to keep Seth over on a work night. She caught only a couple of hours of sleep last night because the man was fit. Like crazy fit. And demanding. And never satisfied. Maybe he should cut down on his cross fit training because his stamina was sometimes scary.

She smiled about her naughty thoughts. Thank God the day was over. It was Friday and she could catch some sleep over the next two days. She had just finished her last E-Mail and shut down her computer.

Seth was out with a client, Dean was babysitting some rich snob who felt threatened by his ex-wife and Roman was on his way out.

"Hey Claire. Call it a night. It is late. Do you want a ride home?"

"No, I am done here in a minute and I have to run some errands before I go home. I am fine. I have my pepper spray in my purse."

Roman hesitated. "I can drive you, you know? It is no big deal."

"But you want to watch the game with your boy. It's fine. Go. I am a big girl, the streets are still crowded, I will be fine. Go. I will even come out with you."

She grabbed her purse and ran to the elevator where he waited for her. "Josh would understand if I miss a couple of minutes." "Roman, seriously. Go home to your son."

They left the building and Roman hugged her goodbye. "Text me when you are home safe, okay?" "I will do that. Now go, you are late."

Roman left in the opposite way and Claire walked down the street to get some stuff at the pharmacy. After that she took the subway home. Just two stops and she was in a whole different world it seemed. The streets were not so busy here and they were just 5 blocks away from the Ebony tower. She could even see it in the distance.

Claire walked to the little corner supermarket to get some groceries, she even picked a six pack of beer up and smiled a secret little smile to herself. If Seth showed up tonight he would understand the joke, she was sure of it.

With three bags in her hands and her purse over her shoulder she walked out, feeling like a pack mule. But her home was close, just another block down.

She passed some allies on her way, grinning when she felt her phone vibrating. It was probably Seth. She couldn't take the call because her hands were full but just 3 more minutes and she would be home. She would call…

A hand pressed down on her mouth and she smelled something strange. She tried to fight the hand over her moth but she couldn't get rid of the bags in her hand fast enough. Due to her panic she breathed too fast inhaling more of the stuff with the damn smell. Her eyelids became heavy. And she blacked out.

Seth was on his way home. He had called Claire over an hour ago and she hadn't returned his call. He got worried. He had to stop at a red light and called Roman, he was with her in the office, and maybe they were working late.

"Seth, hey. What's up?"

"I can't get Claire on the phone. Is she with you?" "No, we went home 90 minutes ago. She said she had to run some errands and would text me when she gets home. Maybe she is still shopping, because she would have texted me. She is responsible."

Seth missed the light turning green and only after the cars behind him used their horns he gunned the car down the street. "I can't reach her either. I am almost at her home. She would have texted you, she isn't so careless."

"Listen Bro, I am just out the door. I will drive over, it might take me 15 minutes but I am on my way. Call me if she is at home sleeping on the couch, okay? Otherwise I am on my way."

Seth hung up without another word and braked hard in front of Claire's home. Everything was dark but he walked in anyways using his key. He called out to her but got no response. After checking each room a feeling of close to a panic attack formed in his body.

His phone rang. Roman. "I tracked her phone, she is almost home. Like 100 feet down the street, west. At least her phone is. Seth, stay on the line, okay?"

Seth put in his Bluetooth headset and sprinted down the street, almost missing the little alley close to Claire's home. He stopped and used his phone as a flashlight, thank you God for modern smartphones.

"Claire?" he called out and his other hand was on the butt of his gun.

"Claire are you here?"

Roman was quiet on his end of the line, knowing that his partner needed to focus but wanting to stay in touch as well.

Seth saw some red shoes behind a dumpster and he froze. Roman knew him too well, he talked to him know when he heard the irregular breathing.

"Seth? Don't freeze. Talk to me."

"She…" Seth walked slowly closer. He had faced countless massacres in war, found countless bodies and had run into houses full of the enemy. Yet when he saw Claire's red shoes and her unmoving body behind that dumpster he was afraid to go closer to check on her.

"Seth? Check her vitals. Go Bro, you have to."

"I have to…" Seth mumbled and turned around the dumpster.

He had to close his eyes for a moment. He almost puked.

"SETH! Move that ass soldier!" Roman screamed in his ear and Seth shook his head. That had been effective. He couldn't see Claire there right now. He had to see a victim that needed help.

"Call 911 and the police."

"Is she breathing?" Seth bend down and checked her pulse. "God…yes. Roman hurry."

Seth hung up. He shrugged out of his jacket and put it over Claire's naked frame, cradling her in his arms after checking her for head injuries. Her head looked fine. But her face was badly bruised as well as her whole torso. He didn't even want to check any lower than her navel.

"Claire, honey, wake up." He said softly and touched her cheek. Nothing. She was out.

He knew he tempered with the crime scene but he wouldn't let her lie here in that alley. He picked her up and walked to the main street when he heard sirens approaching.

The ambulance was first and he kneeled down with Claire in his arms and waited for the EMT's.

They rushed out and asked him all kinds of questions. He answered them as best as he could and they ordered him to put her on a stretcher. He hesitated, not really wanting to let her go.

"Sir, we have to take care of her. Please step away." One EMT told him and Seth stepped away.

The police had arrived and one overly eager officer pushed him away further from the ambulance. He nearly snapped but Roman called out to him from the sidewalk.

"Officer, keep your hands off of him. He is no suspect. That is his girlfriend. You want to do something productive that doesn't get you hurt secure the crime scene." The officer looked over sourly.

"He will not run. Damn it. Do you job." Roman growled and the officer followed his colleague down into the alley.

"Seth? Bro? Talk to me. How is she?" "They are treating her inside the ambulance. I had to step away. I couldn't stand seeing them touch her. Roman?" Seth dark eyes searched Roman's grey ones. "That bastard got to her. I will kill him."

"Shhh, this is not the place. I hear you, but this is not the time or the place Seth. Breathe."

Roman put a heavy hand on Seth shoulder and that's when he saw the big guns arriving.

Two cops in suits. Cheap suits.

The younger one went to check on the ambulance, the older one walked over to Seth and Roman.

"Damn." He said when he recognized Seth. "Son, did you find the victim?" Seth head shot up and he almost went at the throat of the Lieutenant in front of him. Roman had to hold him back.

"She is his girlfriend. You might want to let him go to the hospital as well. They can take his DNA samples there. Because you will find his DNA on her. And we don't want any confusion right Lieutenant Lawler?" Roman knew the guy as well. He was a capable cop down at the 30th precinct.

"My colleague will go with you to the hospital. I will work the crime scene. We will take care of your girl Seth. Roman, I am sure you can give me all the information I need?" "Sure, Sir."

"DALLAS? Come here." Lawler called out to his young side kick and the man climbed out of the ambulance. His long black hair was in a tight pony tail and his wide face looked grim. Seth did his hardest to push the thought out of his head, that this man had just seen more of his girlfriend than he was okay with. He told himself that it was necessary. But still. He wanted to beat that guy up. Just because.

"You will go to the hospital with Mr Rollins here. He is the boyfriend. You will take his statement and order a DNA test on him. I will work the crime scene and catch up with you. You will keep an eye on the victim."

"Claire Lowell." Seth pressed out. "I will keep her safe."

"Listen pal, we are the police. It is our job to keep people safe." Detective Dallas blurted out a stupid grin on his face. And not only Seth felt the need to punch said face but also Roman and Lawler himself.

"Listen kid. Mr Rollins runs a security firm. He knows how to keep people safe. Plus, he is related to the Chief. So you will keep an eye on Miss Lowell from afar and don't step into Mr Rollins way after you took his statement and he got checked for his DNA. Go now, the ambulance is ready to leave."

Dallas walked off and Lawler held Seth back for a minute. "He is young and eager. I know you are almost bursting with anger Son, but I want to work this crime scene myself. Please be a professional about Dallas. I will take him out of your hair asap."

Seth just nodded and walked off.

"He will punch him before the night is over, right?" Lawler asked skeptical as the ambulance drove away.

"No, I send our third guy to the hospital already." Lawler raised an eyebrow. "Ambrose?"

"Yeah, he is cool. Let's work that crime scene, shall we? I want to be with Claire when she comes to as well."

**A/N: A serious topic I know. And one I don't want to play down. Never would! I hope a can find a way to write about "rape" in a serious fashion and entertain you at the same time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Dean enjoyed his evening on the couch. He had returned home just 10 minutes ago. Home. Home was Lilly's apartment most nights by now. He would rarely sleep elsewhere only when he had to and then his nightmares were always back instantly. But when he slept next to Lilly they were gone. Right now he was sitting on her couch trying to wind down after this long day. He had to babysit some rich snob who was afraid of his ex. Dean had to admit that he would be too because the guy was an utter asshole and the Ex was out for revenge. Too bad he paid his bills, otherwise he would gladly hold the guy down for his Ex to walk over him. Before Lilly he would have taken the nightshift as well but with her around he rather came home to enjoy this. She was straddling him and they were exchanging soft, lazy kisses. He was relaxed and felt good.

His phone rang. Lilly stopped her kisses and looked at him questioningly.

"Its Rome." Dean said and Lilly grabbed behind herself to grab his phone from the table and put it in his hand.

"You have to explain to me, why Romans ringtone is Katy Perry's Roar one day." she grinned and he picked up chuckling.

"Roman this is really a bad time." Dean became quiet and when his calm sapphire eyes turned cold and distant Lilly moved up from his lap to sit beside him instead. She couldn't hear Romans end of the conversation but Dean's just relaxed face became a mask, unreadable and cold. He hung up. Lilly hesitated a moment. She was not afraid of him but something was wrong and Dean was not himself anymore.

She reached out her hand timidly to touch his bare arm. „Dean?" she asked really low afraid that he would snap at her.

"It's Claire. She is in the hospital. She...the rapist got her." he tried to tell her matter of factly but he couldn't. Claire was a good woman one who would never judge him even before Lilly stepped into his life. Now his girlfriend put a hand over her mouth and instant tears sprang into her eyes. She knew Claire only three month but they were friends and Lilly was a kind person and as shocked as he was. But he was angry as well. Ready to murder in fact. He could only imagine how Seth must feel.

"We need to go to the hospital." Dean said and got up, grabbing his gun from the table and putting it in his shoulder holster.

"Of course. Let me just put on shoes. It will only take a minute."

He stopped Lilly who was frantic but not only because of the situation but because she feared she would slow him down.

"Lil, get ready but take your time, okay. Take five if you have to. I never want you afraid of me and I never want you to grovel before me because you think you have to please me. Sorry I turned cold over there. I dealt with shit by myself my whole life. Switching off my emotions helps me deal. But I didn't turn cold towards you. So hurry but take your time. Wash your face, put on some shoes, grab your stuff. Never be afraid of me Lilly, ever."

He put a hand on the back of her neck and pulled her close. "Promise me to give it to me straight and that you will never be too scared to voice your opinion to me even if it might be the complete opposite of what I think."

"I will. I just didn't want to slow you down because you want to go there asap. I do too but yeah, you being all business can get a little scary especially when the change happens from one second to the other. And I feel your anger and I just don't want to set you off."

Dean put his forehead to hers. "You don't. Never. I will never snap at you when I am angry because of something else. Now go Lilly get dressed and lets leave. Our friends need us."

It was still foreign to him to even have friends. True, Seth and Roman were his brothers by choice but that he called Claire a friend was thanks to Lilly as well. He found their secretary at Lilly's apartment a couple of times when he came home and the women were having a girl's night.

That Claire got hurt now pissed him off. He cared only for a handful of people and he would see to it that the bastard who did this to Claire was put to justice, one way or the other.

Seth rode in silence in the ambulance. His hand rested on Claire's leg, both her hands were either bandaged or had an IV tube in them. Detective Dallas tried to avoid looking at Claire after Seth growled the first time he looked at her with pity in his eyes.

They arrived at the hospital and the emergency room crew took over. Thankfully a female doctor took care of Claire.

Seth walked through the security checkpoint and set the alarm off.

Dallas intervened with the hospital security, holding up his badge.

"He is with me, and has a permit for his weapon?!" He looked at Seth and he impatiently pulled out his wallet showing the guard his permit. Now he could walk through.

Dallas ordered to do a rape kit on Claire and Seth nearly blew. He had to breathe a couple of times. Rape. The word set him off. He wanted to punch someone or better yet kill the bastard who did this to her.

"Let's do the interview while your girlfriend gets treated." Detective Dallas suggested and Seth followed him reluctantly. But the sooner they were done, the sooner he could get back to Claire.

They went into the break room and Dallas closed the door.

"Your name is Seth Rollins?"

"No its Colby Lopez."

"Like Chief Lopez?"

"Yes, he is my father."

Bo's eyes widened.

"What about the other name?"

"It's for business, to keep private. We make enemies."

"Where were you tonight between 9 pm and 10.30 pm?"

Seth got up and slammed his chair down.

"Ask the right questions kiddo. I wasn't the one who did this to her. I was with a client."

"Relax Mr Rollins...Lopez or we have to continue this conversation at the precinct."

"Over my dead body kiddo."

"Then I suggest you stay positive, right?" Again this creepy smile. Was it supposed to be encouraging?

"Name of the client?"

"Confidential." Two could play the game.

"This is not helpful." Dallas pointed out.

"Finally we agree."

The door burst open and in came Dean followed by Lilly.

"Excuse me Sir we are in the middle of an interview." Dallas smiled again.

Dean looked at him then at Seth and they understood each other. Both wanted to put their fists into that smiling face.

"Are you charging him with something? Did you read him his rights? No? Good, then he is free to go. He needs to be with his girlfriend right now and will answer all your questions gladly tomorrow at the precinct in a chat with your superior."

Seth left the room, brushed Lilly's shoulder shortly but thankful and went to search for Claire.

After he was gone Dean got in the face of the young detective.

"You want to mess with us? Write down my name. Dean Ambrose. You might find my number in your system under asshole, lunatic fringe or sociopath. If you don't find it ask your Chief for it."

Dean left as well and Lilly had the urge to apologize.

"I am sorry. They are a protective bunch. And emotions run high. Sorry."

She followed Dean.

She found the men in front of a private room. Doctors were still treating Claire.

"Seth." Lilly just said and Seth turned around and let her hug him. He was glad that she didn't use the usual phrases.

_I am so sorry. Everything will be alright._

"Thank you Lilly and thank you Dean for showing up when you did. I would have knocked the kid out before the interview was over."

"I know. That's why we are here. It is relaxing to be the reasonable one for once. Did they take your sample already?" Dean knew the procedure as well.

"No I guess the kid will sick a doctor on me any moment. Will you stay here and keep an eye on her till I get back?"

"Sure."

And true enough Detective Dallas showed up with a nurse to take the samples from Seth to cross out any DNA of his found on Claire.

20 minutes later Seth returned and Dean could tell him that the doctors were done for now and that Claire was awake but mildly sedated.

Seth was allowed into the room for a couple of minutes.

Claire lay in the bed, her face angry red and swollen, the rest of her body was covered by the blanket except of one tiny hand that grabbed the sheet until her knuckles turned white and held it to her chin. She didn't look up when Seth entered.

"Hey Claire. I am here. Dean and Lilly are outside. Roman is in the field but will get here asap. We are all here."

"Go away." she said almost only a whisper.

"No honey, I will stay. Make sure you are okay. I am here for you." Seth told her again and grabbed her tiny hand.

That's when she looked up and screamed at him "Get out, get out, GET OUT. Don't touch me."

He let go of her hand instantly and stepped a couple of feet back, hands up in surrender. Dean and Lilly were in the door, looking alarmed.

"Okay Claire. I will wait outside. If you need me, call. I will not leave you, okay?" he walked out, his head hanging.

For a while, when he had found her unconscious, he thought that maybe, just maybe she had been out the whole time. But that wasn't the case it seemed.

"Lilly? Can you sit with her?" he asked and Lilly nodded.

She walked in, grabbed a chair and put it next to the bed, close but not too close.

"It's me. I will just sit here okay? I will stay quiet because I seriously don't know what to say. There is pretty much nothing to say because we are both women right? And it sucks what happened."

Lilly got quiet and just sat back, not looking at Claire.

"Thanks." the auburn haired woman finally mumbled. No, women really didn't have to use a lot of words. Rape was bad and terrifying and something you didn't wish on your worst enemy. No amount of talk especially when it was still so fresh would lessen the feeling of angst, terror, humiliation and feeling dirty. It wasn't even about the amount of hurt it was more the psychological terror that broke the women.

Seth and Dean sat in front of the room silently. Dean didn't know what to say and everything he really wanted to say to Seth was better said in private and not with Detective Dallas on the other side of the room.

They were waiting on a female detective to talk to Claire because after the reaction to Seth it was clear that a male would scare her too much.

"Roman and Lawler are on their way back here." Dean informed Seth who just stared ahead.

A couple of minutes later the Samoan and the cop with Tennessee roots showed up in the waiting room.

"Crime scene didn't tell us much. Her stuff was in the dumpster right where you found her. CSI will tell us if there are any prints on her stuff but I doubt it. The guy is careful and good. The other four victims were blitz attacked in the same fashion with chloroform. We suspect he has a van at hand where he does what he does. But that is our only lead. Maybe your girlfriend can give us some more insight. My best female detective is on her way. She talked to the other victims as well."

Roman kept quiet. Whatever he had to say it wasn't for police ears either.

A couple minutes later a blonde bombshell showed up.

"Lieutenant Lawler I came as quickly as possible."

"Right. This is detective Natalya Neidhart, she will do the interview with your girl Seth. Nattie, that is Seth Rollins, boyfriend of the victim."

Seth looked at the blonde woman. Looks could be deceiving he should know because when some clients first saw his bi colored hair they were not impressed. But he was good at his job and even the biggest critique had to give him that in the end.

"Okay. She is more fragile than I thought she would be. She doesn't want me around. So be gentle."

"Mr Rollins I will be gentle don't worry. It is not uncommon that the woman needs some distance from men even from the one she trusts. She needs time but she will come around. I will talk to her now."

Natalya walked into the room and took a good look at Claire. She looked worse than the other victims her medical report suggested more violence. Either the unsub progressed or there was something more to Claire.

Plus, the timeline suggested he had her for over an hour where the other women were released in under 20 minutes. Three of them hadn't even woken up from the chloroform. But Claire surely had.

She had to check her background and Seth background she told herself. Claire was the victim that would make or break the case.

"Hi I am Natalya Neidhart with the police."

"Where is your badge?" Lilly asked. She knew the guys wouldn't let anyone in here that wasn't supposed to be in here but she wanted to proof to Claire that she took care of her and Claire might need the visual confirmation that this woman was with the police.

"Fair enough." Natalya gave her badge to Lilly and she checked it and showed it to Claire. "Looks real." she mumbled and gave it back.

"You want me to stay or shall I leave?" Claire looked at Lilly. "Leave. You would only blurt everything out to Dean and Dean tells Seth. And I don't want him to know any of it."

"I wouldn't talk and you know that. I will wait outside."

Lilly left a little hurt but also relieved. She didn't know if she could stomach Claire's story.

The waiting room outside was crowded. The Shield boys were there of course, then the young detective as well as his older partner.

To her surprise a new face had arrived as well. Danielle.

She was talking to Roman. Dean tried to ignore the ADA and Danielle tried to do the same. Those two hated each other because of an event in the past. Lilly knew what had happened and she was torn. She understood Danielle's feelings, she had lost her brother and blamed Dean for his death. But Dean had told her that it had been an accident. And she believed him, he had no reason to lie. But since she was Dean's girlfriend she took his side, which made the two women not exactly friendly with each other as well.

"She gives her statement right now but didn't want me in there." Lilly told Seth and felt Dean's tug on her hand. He pulled her on his lap and she hugged him and put her head on his shoulder.

Danielle stared at them and snarled before focusing her attention on Roman once again.

"I told you to stay home and lock the doors. What the hell are you doing here Dani?" Roman was furious. He thought the mother of his son was safely home. Instead she was here, alone. In her fucking car.

He pushed a big hand through his hair which was open and hung well over his shoulders.

"I am here because my friend got hurt. Where else would I be right now? You are all here." She glanced at Dean and his new girlfriend Lilly. She sat on his lap, her eyes closed and her head resting intimately on his shoulder. She made a face. Dean Ambrose was not a guy you could trust in her book. He was crazy, border lining sociopathic, dangerous and a killer.

Anyone who would come this close to him, hell even trusting him like Lilly did, was plain stupid. Look at her brother. He trusted Dean, they had been best friends and now he was dead!

Roman caught her attention again. He had of course caught the look in Dani's eyes. It was getting tiring to separate those two. They had to talk at one point. He would make sure of that. Even if he had to lock them up in the same room, preferably a padded room.

"Where is Josh?" Roman asked and Danielle told him he stayed home to watch the game.

Swearing softly Roman would have a long talk with his son. He told him to keep an eye on his mother, and most of the time the teenager did that but sometimes he was just a 16 year old.

"I know how to take care of myself Joe. I don't need a babysitter."

"CLAIRE FUCKING KNOWS HOW TO TAKE CARE OF HERSELF AS WELL. AND LOOK AT HER NOW!" Roman exploded. A big part of that explosion was guilt. He should have brought her home. But she told him like a million times that she would be fine. And a part of him had wanted to watch the stupid game as well, spend time with his son.

And now what? She was lying in that room, raped and probably broken inside forever.

Seth and Dean looked up when the big guy screamed at his Ex, Lawler held Dallas back who wanted to interfere and Lilly hugged Dean tighter. Roman was always calm and collected. Seeing him screaming was scary.

Danielle folded her arms over her chest too proud to back down but also realizing that Roman was right. No one was safe alone out there at the moment.

"Bring me home later, okay? And maybe you can sleep on the couch?" she told him to make him feel a little better.

"Of course I bring you home no matter what you say. Even if I have to put you in the trunk."

"He is scary when he gets angry." Lilly whispered in Dean's ear and he hugged her tightly. "He is. He feels guilty probably. He was the last one in the office with Claire."

Seth didn't really follow the conversation. The only reaction he gave was to Roman's booming voice but he had heard it many times before, sometimes he had been on the receiving end as well. And after a second he was back in his own head. He played over the events in his head time and time again. He should have scheduled the meeting differently. He should have been there to pick Claire up. They should have done the grocery shopping together this morning but they were late after a round of sweet morning sex.

Gosh, Seth had to put his head between his knees and breathe in and out a couple of times. Just this morning they had been intimate together. Trusting. Caring. And now Claire didn't even want him in the same room. She was battered and broken. How the hell was he supposed to get through to her?

He looked over at Dean. Maybe he could relate to Claire and Claire to him? They always had that weird bond going. He talked to her like he was almost normal. They even had real conversations. And as Claire had pointed out, Dean had grown on her. Maybe on a level that would help him connect to her easier than he was able to.

Seth got up and towered over Dean and Lilly.

"I want you to talk to her when the detective is done. Maybe you can get through to her. One of us has to TALK to her."

Dean understood. They needed information to get this bastard. And Dean also understood why he should try it. He was broken as well, only beginning to heal after Lilly stepped into his life.

"I will give it a try Bro." Dean said and Seth nodded and went back to his seat.

He was moving his leg nervously up and down, receiving an annoyed glance from Danielle and Detective Dallas but he gave a damn. When he had stress he needed to find a release for his energy. Usually he would go and train but he wouldn't leave this hospital. Not before talking to Claire again.

Detective Neidhart returned after the longest time and gave her Lieutenant a short nod, and they stepped outside.

Seth stared at Dean, gave him a subtle little nod. They needed answers to start their work and as much as he hated to question Claire right now when she needed some peace it had to be done.

Dean got up, kissed Lilly and walked by Danielle and Roman giving the black-haired woman a nod when he passed. She was angry at him he didn't need to add to it by being impolite. Hell she would take the nod the wrong way probably. But Lilly had told him that he should try to be polite towards Danielle and he tried.

He entered Claire's room, locked the door which earned him a panicked glance from her.

"Easy Claire, it's just me." he told her and grabbed a chair, put it in her direct line of sight and sat down on it back to front.

"Hi girl. You look horrible. But you survived. I will not sugar coat anything. Life's a bitch to you right now. You got raped." Claire inhaled sharply. Dean just shrugged. "That's what happened. You need to address it as it is. You got raped. It was traumatic and it will take a long time to heal, physically and emotionally. You lost a piece of carefreeness and you won't get it back. So don't even try. You will survive. You will get better and hell it will make you stronger if you handle it right. But you won't get back that piece of innocence you lost tonight." He gave it to her straight. Some people needed cuddling, some needed hushed voices, but Claire was someone who would want to hear this straight. So he gave it to her raw.

"My mother died when I was still a baby and I lived with my dad. He was a hard worker but a mean drunk. And he was a bad father in general. He beat me up when I cried which made me cry even harder. You get the picture. One night the police came. I was three. They had the chance to take me away from him, put me in foster care. I was young enough to have a real chance at an adoption. But the cop who talked to me told me to man up, his son wouldn't cry either. His son is your boyfriend by the way."

Claire closed her eyes. A lot made sense now. Why Dean hated the police and why the Chief had a strong dislike against the wildcard of the team.

"Well it got worse from there on. More beatings, more starving for me because money was always tight and what we had he spent on booze. I watched my father suffocate on his own vomit one night when I was ten. That broke something inside of me. It took me 23 years, a girlfriend who takes me as I am and therapy to become...almost normal after that. What I try to say Claire is, that this incident changed me. Not completely for the worse. I did good work in the military I was able to do the things other soldiers had a problem with. Others had a conscience...I hadn't. No soul to loose. I admit it almost broke me but now...I am on a path of redemption. You can turn something ugly into something better. Not right away. But give it time. Use the experience to make a difference. It is 90 % fucked up what happened to you, yeah, but maybe you can take _something_ good out of it."

He got up and walked over to her, hugging her. He, who never touched a human being unless necessary and Claire who was normally a hugger but who flinched today. Dean ignored it.

"I am sorry and I am enough of an asshole to take the right to say that to you because I went through shit as well. I am so sorry Claire that I have to put pressure on you tonight, but we need everything you can give me. Everything you haven't told the police. And I will make you an offer. If you want to keep the soul of your boyfriend clean, if you want revenge, I will do it. No one would ever know. It would be between us. Tell me and I will find that bastard and take care of it once and for all."

His blue eyes had turned into ice cubes. "No. I want justice but I don't want either one of you to do something stupid. Especially not you Dean. Not you, not Seth, not Roman. I remember only bits and pieces, I was unconscious a lot. I told the police everything I can remember. Everything except one thing."

Dean held her hand and sat down on the bed. "What Claire?"

"He had a tattoo on his lower left arm. I could see pieces. I concentrated on that because he wore a mask, nothing to see there. "How did the tattoo look like?"

Claire swallowed. And Dean had a bad feeling all of a sudden. "I saw the head of an eagle. In its claws he held a gun, an anchor and a trident."

Dean subconsciously touched his left shoulder where he had the exact same tattoo. A lot of SEALs had it, Roman and Seth as well.

"He was a SEAL?" he asked Claire. "He was strong and trained. Methodical and calm. He was pretty likely a SEAL. And he wanted me to see the tattoo he could have covered it but didn't."

"Fuck." Dean said and knew that he would get Lilly out of her apartment tonight. He would hide her somewhere. A rogue SEAL raped women and attacked Claire, girlfriend of a former Seal. This was no coincidence. And he would take no chances with Lilly.

"We will make sure you are safe. Reinforcement is on its way. The three of us will leave we need to address this asap. Claire, thank you and you can count on us. Try to get some rest. That bastard had a message to send and he did. You should be safe. If he wanted to kill you he would have done it."

"He wanted me to live...to hurt me and Seth."

"Seth. I don't think he gives a damn about you. But we do. And for the record. If you feel like crying? Cry! Because the Chief is an asshole and his advices suck. We are right by your side Claire."

He kissed her head and left.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Dean walked over to Roman and Danielle and leaned in close.

"We need to leave. Dani, you have to come with us. Collect your son on the way and grab some stuff for a couple of nights. Don't argue with me right now. The office in an hour." Dean touched his left shoulder, tapped the SEAL tattoo. "The guy who did it?" _tap tap._

Roman nodded and left with Danielle.

Next Dean picked up Lilly and walked over to Seth. He was far away from the police so Dean could talk to him in a low voice.

"The Office in an hour. Watch out for yourself you have a target on your back."

Seth nodded. "Tell Bryan and Brie to be extra careful. We are dealing with a rogue SEAL."

Seth eyes widened. "I will go now. Watch out Bro."

Dean grabbed Lilly's hand. "You stay by my side between me and whatever car or building I can find to shield your other side. In the car you get in the back put on the vest under the passenger seat and you lay low. Think about what you need for a couple of days. Keep your head low doll."

Dean pulled her close, shielding her left side with his body and her right side as long as possible with the building. After that with the parked cars. He put her in the backseat and got down, checking under his car. Looked good.

He got up. He was sure he was being watched. He checked his surroundings and he knew where he would wait for his bait. But he wouldn't get shot tonight. Whoever this guy was wanted to hurt either Seth specifically or all of them. He wouldn't just kill them in an ambush, not yet.

Dean wished Lilly wasn't with him. He would walk right up to that park house across the street and put a bullet in that guys brain. But his priority was Lilly right now. He got in the car and drove off. After a couple blocks he called in a shooting at that park house. That would keep the guy busy for a while and smoke him out of his hiding, giving Seth later a chance to leave the hospital as well.

Seth calmed himself enough to walk up to Lawler.

"Where did your friends go all of a sudden?"

"Home. They will come back tomorrow. You should leave as well. I have some people coming over who will watch over Claire for the night. And I will stop by the precinct tomorrow to give you my statement."

"Yeah fair enough son. We have a report to type up. Come on Dallas, let's go."

When the police left Seth checked his guns. The one in his shoulder holster was fully loaded and ready. The one on his ankle as well. He wanted to go to Claire, take the chance to talk to her, but his employees arrived. Bryan and Brie Danielson. Married couple. Met in the army a few years back but worked on the private sector now.

He may look like a goat with his beard and wild hair, but he was an excellent fighter. Brie, his wife, a beautiful woman, was an excellent marksman. Woman. Whatever. They were tough as nails. Especially Brie was underestimated by men all the time.

"Brie, Bryan, thanks for coming."

He filled them in. Short, efficient and without emotions. But Brie couldn't hide her shock. A reason he picked the couple for night duty was, that Brie could sit with Claire, women seemed to be less scary at the moment to her. Unless your name was Dean Ambrose, and you were a lunatic, that seemed to work as well.

"I will just tell her goodbye. Wait here."

I walked into her room, and she was staring into space.

"Claire, I know you don't want me around right now. But I am there for you. Always. Thank you for talking to Dean. We will find that guy, I promise you that. And you will get your revenge on him."

"I want him behind bars Seth, not him dead and you in jail." she snarled. Why didn't they understand that?

"We will cross that bridge when we get there. Bryan and Brie are outside. They will protect you. I will come back in the morning."

He turned to leave but Claire had something else to say.

"I don't want you here. If you are the target coming here is stupid. And I simple don't want YOU here."

Seth turned around. His face was now bare of emotions. "What do you mean Claire? I am your boyfriend. Of course I will come here to help you through this."

"This thing between us ends tonight. We are done. I don't want to see you Seth. Don't come here. Leave now. Get out."

"You are hurt and tired and need some rest. I will be back later Claire."

"NO YOU WON'T! GO AWAY!" she screamed and he got it this time and left.

What was happening here? Why did she break up with him?

Without looking at Bryan and Brie he walked out of the hospital. He didn't care if a target was on his back. He ignored the blaring sirens on the other side of the street, got into his car and drove to the office.

Claire was glad that he was gone. How could he even say he would stick by her side? She felt so dirty. She wasn't comfortable in her own skin anymore. She already had clawed at her arms and the skin was raw there. How could Seth still want her? He probably just wanted to say the right thing. He felt like he had to stick around for a while only to leave her later. That's why she ended it. Plus she really couldn't stomach the sight of him right now for some reason. And last but not least, coming here he was the perfect target and even though she didn't want to see him right now, she didn't want to see him hurt or killed either.

* * *

_A/N: First of all, and I have a feeling I don't say this enough: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! I appreciate them so so much! I am just afraid to sound stupid when I tell you this over and over again. I do love every word from you! _

_Okay, this was a short chapter. In the next chapter it will be revelaed who the rogue SEAL is._

_Any guesses? I am looking forward to whom you might come up with!_


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Okay, the bad guy will be revealed in this chapter. OH MY!**

**I loved your ideas about whom it could be! I am not sure if it is wise to list them now before the chapter, or if I should put it at the bottom? Argh I'll go for bottom, so no one is spoiled.**

**I can't wait to hear your reaction to the big bad guy of this story!**

**Chapter 5**

Roman followed Danielle back to her place in his car. If they had a rogue SEAL on their hands, he wanted to get his family out of the way. But this would be difficult. Danielle was a headstrong woman and worked at the DAs office. She would want to see this guy behind bars as much as he did.

They stopped in front of her little town house and he got out of the car and was by her side instantly.

"Joe, I don't think this is necessary." She complained about his overprotective nature. "You leave that decision to me. Until we know more, I will stick by your side, like it or not. Now let's go in, pack a couple of things and leave."

His son waited in the living room, he already had a backpack by his side because Roman had called him on the way.

"Is that all that you will need? Where is your school stuff?" Roman asked as Danielle went upstairs to get her things.

Josh rolled his eyes. "I thought we were going to hide? How can I go to school and hide at the same time?" "I will pick up your work for you. Now go and grab your books. And hurry Josh."

The kid was bright and had a smart mouth on him. He was also a looker. Well not right now, right now he was an awkward teenage boy, but Roman saw the potential and when he would be 25 he would be considered handsome. Roman bet his ass on that. But he needed an education as well. And Roman was very strict about that.

10 minutes later mother and son returned and Roman grabbed Josh' backpack.

"Listen. We take my car. You get in the back and try to stay down. I will drive to the office, into the underground parking garage. You stay by my side the whole time and do as I tell you. I know both of you might have a problem with that but all I want is for you to be safe. Understood?"

Mother and son nodded and Roman escorted them outside, put their luggage in the trunk and drove to the Ebony Tower.

When they arrived Dean's car was already at his spot. Roman cringed inwardly because the next hour or so would get interesting with Danielle and Dean in one room.

"Behave." He told his Ex as they stepped out of the elevator and walked to the one conference room where the lights were on.

Lilly and Dean were inside, Dean was working on a computer. The windows were opaqued, a nice feature he had installed. One click on the remote and they would be clear again.

Lilly busied herself with making coffee. The blonde woman looked up when Roman and his family stepped in.

Dean didn't acknowledge the entrance at first, only looking up to address Josh. "Hey buddy." He greeted the kid. They got along fine, considering the circumstances. It was just that he was not allowed alone in one room with Josh as per Danielle's orders.

"Hey Dean, what are you doing?" Josh walked in and wanted to head over to Dean but his mother stopped him. "Sit down here." She put him in a chair far away from Dean.

Lilly had watched the scene silently but now she got angry. "Stop your crap Danielle. First of all, this is not the time or the place for your pettiness. Second of all, Dean is no threat to you or your son, get that in your head. And third it wasn't his damn fault."

Now Dean looked up, partly interested partly to be able to interfere because this could get ugly.

Roman was watching the scene carefully as well.

"What gives you the right to stick your nose into my business? This is MY son we are talking about. And MY brother died. And I know damn well that this is a serious situation." Dani shot back.

"It is my business because you insult my boyfriend whenever you see him. He might be unaffected by your antics but I am not. You are judgmental and you don't treat him fairly. Your brother was drunk, he drowned. It was an accident. His other friends were all too drunk to notice. It's funny you only blame Dean. What about the other guys that were there? What about…."

"Cut your bullshit. Now. All of you."

Seth walked into the room and he was looking pissed, sounded pissed and walked with anger in each step.

"Either you can be in one room or you can't. Decide it in the next five seconds. After that if I hear more bickering or even catch a sideway glance I don't like I throw you out. This goes to you Dean, and you Roman as well. I will do this alone if I have to, because I understand that you will stay by your women…and your son. It is up to them to decide right now to be a part of this or leave and stay somewhere safe till this is over. What will it be?"

He looked at first at Dean, who looked at his girlfriend. It was a foreign feeling for him that someone defended him. That's why he hadn't stopped her. Because by God, he had tried countless times to talk to Danielle, and it had never worked. He thought that maybe Lilly could change her opinion just a little bit, but it seemed that there was nothing but new hatred between them. So Dean checked with Lilly.

"We are cool." He finally said. Seth' eyes landed on Danielle. He could see that she was torn. Her hatred for Dean was over a decade old. It wasn't something you put away overnight.

"I am fine, but I don't want him near my son. Joe, I want Josh to stay with your family until this is over. Can you put him on a flight to Florida?" "Sure. I'll get right on it." The Samoan said and grabbed a laptop.

"What? And I have nothing to say in this?" Josh asked. And all the adults in the room said "NO!" at the same time.

Lilly put a cup of coffee in front of Danielle as a gesture of truce, pressed a cup into Seth hand and walked over to Roman and finally Dean, giving them each a cup as well.  
She sat down next to her boyfriend who was still working on his computer.

"Why don't the civilians leave the room? Wait in Roman's office. Because I have to talk to my brothers….alone." Seth looked especially at Danielle. She was with the DAs office she wouldn't allow them to do something against the law. Hell, she would probably tell them to let the police do their job.

"And Josh? When they start to scratch their eyes out…get between them." Roman told his son as the two women left the office.

They went into Roman's office and closed the door behind them. Josh went straight for Roman's big chair, his mother sat down on a visitor chair in front of the desk and Lilly sat down on the couch.

"Maybe you should go with Josh. Joe's family is nice. They will welcome you with open arms." Dani suggested.

"Because I am useless in this? Because they are SEALs, you are with the DAs office and I am just what? The helpless girlfriend? The loose end?"

"Something like that." Danielle told her straight forward.

Lilly had to give it to Danielle. She had a point. Dean would concentrate on keeping her safe, and he wouldn't concentrate on the mission.

"Why don't we all go? Grab Claire, get on a plane, leave town. Let the boys handle this?"

"Claire is probably not cleared to fly and I need to remind them, that they have to operate within the law."

"Not all of them need to…" Lilly mumbled, referring to her boyfriend specifically.

"He has no ground to operate here in the USA. I would sue him before he can put the gun down."

"Wouldn't you like that?"

"Hey enough. Lilly, I would love for you to come with me to visit my grandparents. Mom is right. She needs to stay, but she will promise not to get in Dean's face because I won't leave otherwise."

Danielle glared at her son. "I promise. After all, you seem to keep him in check, when you are gone…I will not get in his face if you accompany my son. Get out of the way Lilly, I don't mean that in a rude way. If I could I would go as well. And I will send Claire as soon as she is able to. But I need to stay."

"Okay, seems like I will go to Florida. Let me tell Dean."

Once the women and Josh had left the office the guys sat down next to Dean.

"What have you found out so far?" Seth asked him and Dean turned the laptop so everyone could see. He had a list with names of SEALs with tattoos on their left arm. It was a big list, SEALs seemed to like getting a tattoo these days.

"132? Well, let's have a look." Roman said and sipped his coffee.

"We don't have to go through the list. It's him, right there." Seth pointed to a name.

"I don't even get how he could become a SEAL…" Dean said.

He opened the file and a couple of pictures appeared at first of a bulky man with black, curly hair, a goatee and cold dark eyes. The snarl seemed to be plastered on his face.

* * *

xxx

xxx

xxx

xxx

xxx

* * *

"Alexander Rusev." He read it out loud. "His parents came over from Bulgaria before his birth. He has a full US citizenship and speaks English fluently. They took him because he obviously can speak Bulgarian and Russian."

"He is built like a tank…" Dean mumbled and looked over to Roman who had remained quiet.

"What did you do to him to piss him off Seth?" Roman asked and Dean's eyes widened. Until now he thought he was the only one who made enemies on a daily basis.

"We don't know him that means you ran into him somewhere else. On one of your solo missions." Roman probed some more.

Just as Seth was about to talk there was a soft knock on the door and Lilly struck her head in.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt. Do you have a minute? I'll make it quick."

"Sure, come in." Dean said and Lilly walked over and he got up and met her half way. "What is it? Is it Danielle?" Dean asked concerned and pushed a strand of hair behind Lilly's ear.

"No. But she pointed something out to me. That maybe I should take a little vacation as well. Go with Josh to Florida to get out of your hair so you can concentrate on the mission."

She looked at the other two men as well.

Dean looked only at Seth. "Will he come after us Seth?"

The guy with the two toned hair put his face in his hands. "I don't know Dean. I have no fucking clue how far he will go. To be on the safe side, I would send her to Florida." He looked up again, suddenly feeling so tired.

Lilly stepped away from Dean and walked behind the table to give Seth a hug. "Then I will go. Dani will stay though. But Josh and I will leave and come back when you are done…" she looked at the monitor. "With him. He is creepy." She pointed out and Dean smiled. "And this out of your mouth when you are dating the biggest creep around says everything. Rome, can you book her on the same flight?"

"On it already. Lilly, Dani is right. To know that you and Josh are safe gives us room to operate. I know why Dani won't leave, and I know that Claire can't, but to know that at least two of my most favorite people are safe with my family makes this easier. I am sure Dean sees it like I do."

"I do. I hate to see you leave but it is for the best. Go back to Dani and Josh now, we need to talk shop here." Lilly kissed him on the cheek and walked to the door. "I know. Guys, just be careful, alright? That guy looks scary and he is ruthless. And he hurt my friend. Do whatever it takes to bring him down."

With that she left the meeting room.

"Okay, back to business, partner. Give us the story behind that tank." Dean said and got back down in front of his laptop.

Seth got up from his place and paced the room for a while.

"Roman left the SEALs first, you followed him Dean, because you were not good at that time mentally. I stayed with the Navy for a while longer and they put me on a mission with Rusev and a female Naval officer. Lana Perry. We were send to Russia for the mission to retrieve information about a new nuclear weapon. I was the one who planned the mission, it's my thing as you know, they don't call me the Architect for nothing. Well, I planned everything, it was a fool proofed plan. But things got ugly in the building. We were ambushed and Lana was killed, Rusev and I barely made it out alive. I only later found out, that Rusev and Lana were an item and he blamed me for her death. It wasn't my fault really. Someone told them we were coming."

"Who?" Roman asked. "Hell if I know."

"Did you bring Lana's body home?" Dean asked while studying his fingernails with interest.

"No, we had to leave her behind and the Russians never released her body."

"But you saw her die?"

"What are you getting at? She was shot right before our eyes."

Dean looked up. "Okay, just checking. Because Lana was your mole and either they killed her to get rid of her or she isn't dead and is working for the Russians now."

"Where do you come up with all this crap Dean?" Roman asked annoyed.

"That's confidential. I could tell you but then I would have to kill you. Let me check on Lana. If she was a double agent Rusev didn't know it. He had three years to come after you Seth, why now?"

"Claire." Seth pointed out. "She is the first real relationship I have in these three years. He must have kept on eye on me, biding his time, waiting for this."

"And I thought I had problems." Dean mumbled as he walked out the room and to his office to contact his handler at the CIA. They would know if Lana was indeed dead or still alive and kicking.

After a terrible long night hidden inside the Ebony Tower where at one point Dean and Lilly retreated to his office, Dani and Josh stayed at Roman's office and Seth and Roman worked on a plan, Roman and Dean got Lilly and Josh to the airport. Seth and Dani stayed behind.

"My family is looking forward to meet you Lilly. They know Dean and actually love him so they are really excited about you. They will welcome you with open arms. And you young man be good, take care of Lilly and listen to my folks, okay?" "Yes Dad. And you take care of Mom." "I will do that. Go now, I don't want to leave Seth alone too long."

Lilly kissed Dean goodbye. "Be careful you idiot, alright? Because you have someone to come home to now. No suicidal moves. Promise me."

"I promise Lilly. Take care!"

The two ex SEALs watched Lilly and Josh walk through security and left the airport after that.

"Okay, update me on your plan. I am sure you understand why I had to…retire for the night."

"I do, don't worry Dean. You had a day of work in your bones as well and needed some time off. I hope you used the 4 hours to get some shut eye as well."

"Yeah, I slept for like 3 hours. Lilly works like magic on my sleep. I am a little afraid about the next couple of days."

"You will get through it. Now about the plan…"

A/N:

**We had:**

**Erick Rowen: Yeah, the guy is creepy, the mask, yes that would be fitting. But the Giant isn't the rogue SEAL**

**Hunico: Nope. The tattoo on the arm of the SEAL is the official SEAL Insignia.**

**Corey Graves: Would be a great match with all the tattoos, huh? He feels like a heel as well, but it isn't him.**

**Fandango or one half of Rybaxel: Hey, that would be so fitting if it would be Ryback! I could write a scene where they triple powerbomb him. Lots of video footage of that for me to study exists. But it is none of the three.**

**Chris Jericho: Lovely idea. Really, I like this one. But again. Nope.**

**Sid Vicious: Hehe, a pure psycho. Wouldn't it be interesting to see a face off between him and Dean? But we will have to do that another time.**

**And my all time favorite, and I admit, I toyed with this idea:**

**Bo Dallas: He is such a creep! But he isn't the bad guy, even though everyone wants to punch him in the face.**

BAM. But it is Alexander Rusev, who lost his love Lana and he blames Seth and he is out for revenge. Are you surprised?


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. I haven't done this in a while, so here are my reactions to those reviews in italics:

**Coreys Kitten **

**I'm sure Rusev wouldn't have come after Seth with a plan of his own. I'm curious how bad it's gonna be. Dean seems to know something the others don't about Lana. Anyway, can't wait for more.**

_Dean does work for the CIA, he tries to find out more about Lana through the channels there. He has seen some fucked up things in his time and to him someone is only dead when he buried the corpse or cut the head off._

**CharismasXe **

**I love the way you're building this story! It becomes more and more exciting and interesting at each and every chapter! And Rusev, with the background story of Lana (who's not really dead, in my opinion v.v), is just perfect for being the bad guy of this story! I'm a bit sorry Lilly has to go, because we'll see less Dean/Lilly scenes, but this is mostly a Seth's story, so I can't wait to read some more interaction between the Architect of The SHIELD and Claire! Keep up the amazing work ;)**

_You got that right. Lilly had to go because otherwise Dean and her would have stolen the show, and this is Seth & Claire's story._

_Glad you like Rusev as the bad guy. He is really scary, huh? *brrr*_

**Ayame Jrock **

**Oh man, I really did not see that coming at all! I am so in love with this story, and can not wait to see how it all goes down! Great update!**

_Thank you! That's what I want to achieve. This moment where everyone thinks: Damn, didn't see that one coming. And then they say: But what a great fit. So thank you!_

**shaniquacynthia **

**Damn...I qanted it to b The Savior of Misbehavior Corey Graves but I'm happy bout the choice nonetheless**

_Thank you. I needed a bull of a man for a later scene, Corey is a little skinny :p_

**StilesBelongsWithMe'Bruh **

**I wish he was a bad guy. So I can have a reason to knock his face off with a umbrella. But I guess I can do that in my imagination.**

**But it's sad. Rusev and Dani have a common ground. Mourning for a loved one. I really hope she doesn't go soft on him because of that reason. That will be torture right there.**

_Bo is a scary guy I agree, and for a while I was toying with the idea of making him the bad guy. But I have other plans for him._

_Yes, Dani and Rusev are both poor souls, huh? And sometimes those souls have a way to find each other…_

**tatyasdias**

**I can imagine Rusev as the rogue agent and now that they're loved ones are going away they can focuse more, knowing that they're safe. Claire needs to recover both physically and mentally so she can forgive herself and Seth can't give up on her, but something tells me that he won't ;)**

_Seth can be a persistent bastard if he wants to be. Just look at the way he hold on to that briefcase! He just can't give it up. ;)_

**ladyjade37 **

**Wow Rusev I totally didn't think of him. Great job so far :) me likey**

_Me happy! __J__Thanks!_

**ChelleLew **

**Bo is SUCH a creepy character! Can you give him a labotomy and make him nicer? Less...jiggely? Less...whiney? That would be a great thing for Rusev to do in this story! ****Very villainous!**

_I am not sure a lobotomy would help Bo. Creep is written into every cell of his body not just the brain._

**Maashmellow **

****gulp** Rusev? I could only imagine the brutality but I loved how you got Lana into the scene as well**

_Yeah, think about the worst imaginable bad guy. _

* * *

Chapter 6

Seth sat in his office, working on a plan to smoke out Rusev when his phone rang.

"Bryan? What is it?"

"Well Seth, your girlfriend is currently packing her stuff to leave the hospital against Doctors' orders." Bryan explained and Seth cursed.

"Keep her there, I am on my way."

He wouldn't let her leave there, she was in no condition to leave the hospital just yet and hell if she wanted to leave he would be by her side. Screw the break up.

"Dani, come on." He called out and Dani came out of Roman's office.

"What? Where?"

"I have to pick up Claire. She is about to leave the hospital."

Dani grabbed her bag and followed him downstairs to his car.

On the way to the hospital he called his friends.

"Change of plans, I have to pick up Claire." He told Roman over the speaker. "Dani is with me."

Before Roman could answer another call came in.

"Hold on guys. I have another call."

He changed to his new call from an unknown number.

"Yes?" he asked impatiently.

"Hello Seth." A deep voice greeted him and Seth slammed on the brakes, catapulting both him and Dani into the seatbelts. No one drove behind him, which was the only reason that this didn't end in an accident.

"Rusev." Seth just said and Dani's eyes widened. To her Seth mouthed _Call Dean._

Dani did that and when Dean answered she just said hush and put him on speaker.

"Seth, I take it you got my message?" the other man asked. "Oh yeah, loud and clear. That you are a fucking coward. If you have a problem with me you come to me. You don't attack my woman. That was a mistake Rusev."

"Like you made a mistake four years back, getting my woman killed? You can be glad that your sweet Claire is alive. But she will always think about this night. She will always think that it wouldn't have happened to her if it weren't for you. She will hate you, despise you and if there is a chance that she will ever let you back in her pants she will always see my face now. I am a patient man Seth, I waited for just the right one to come along. And now she is lost to you."

"You don't know her or us. We will get through this. And I will come and hunt you down."

"Yes? You and your band of degenerates? Good luck. Because I have nothing to lose. You on the other hand have everything to lose. Your girl is out of your life. Who shall I turn to now? Your friend Roman and his girl or to your lunatic brother Dean and his little blonde bitch."

"COME FOR ME FUCKER! COME FOR ME! I tell you where to find me bastard and I will end you! Lilly is out of your reach you bastard so come for me I dare you!" Dean screamed over the speaker.

"I see we are not alone in this conversation. Hello Dean, hello Roman. I will see you soon enough. Right now I just see your friends, the one who looks like a goat and his wife arguing in front of the hospital with Claire. Who do you want to lose today Seth? Goatface or his pretty wife?"

"NO!" Seth screamed and gunned the engine down.

"If you hurt anyone of them you are dead you hear me?"

Seth had to stop at a red light about a block away from the hospital. "Damn it." He growled and released his seatbelt.

Seth got out of the car with his phone pressed to his ear now when he heard a shot over the phone on Rusev's end of the line. He ended the call and called out to Dani: "A shot was fired!" and then he ran to the hospital as fast as he could.

"Dean? He ran out on me to the hospital. A shot was fired. How far away are you?" Dani informed Dean.

"Almost there. Get behind the wheel, park somewhere, lock the doors. We will come and pick you up asap."

Dean looked at Roman who nodded. "Call my phone Dani, I will come and get you." The Samoan told his Ex and got out of Dean's car to run to the mother of his son on foot.

They exchanged positions over the phone and Dani parked the car and waited for Roman.

Dean drove to the hospital. He was a good three blocks away, too far he knew but he drove as fast as he could.

_**A/N: Oh no! Rusev fired a shot! Did he hit someone? Bryan? Brie? Oh God. No!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: So I read somewhere that suspense kills people. Since I love all of you and your reviews (hint hint) I decided to save you from a heart attack and publish the next chapter today. THis is a one time only deal. Next one will take a day or two, or three. :)**

**Maybe, as a wayto say thank you to me for being so NICE I get a review or two from my silent readers? Pretty please? I would love to hear your thoughts!**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Claire argued her way out of the hospital and when Bryan tried to touch her she would start to scream so the man couldn't really do anything but argue with her. Brie tried to intervene as well that's why both of them didn't pay any attention to their surroundings.

Detective Dallas was suddenly in front of them, smiling this weird smile.

"Hello. I wanted to check up on you. Why are you fighting?" he asked the three people and Claire just rolled her eyes and Bryan turned to the cop.

Just as he turned he saw something reflecting in the morning sun across the street at the parking garage.

"Down!" he shouted and grabbed Claire hard and tugged her down. Brie was on the ground fast as well. Dallas wasn't so lucky or so fast. The shot that was fired went straight through him and the bullet hit the pavement with force.

Dallas looked down at his chest and the blood pouring out of the wound. He sank to his knees as Bryan grabbed Claire, shielding her with his body and moving her back towards the hospital. Brie followed, gun drawn. Dallas was dead, she didn't need to worry about the cop. She knew that firing would be useless, the parking garage was too far away for her handgun to reach. And sprinting there without cover when there was a sniper was suicide as well. So she did the only thing possible. Grabbed her phone and called Seth.

Seth ran down the block as fast as possible. His phone rang and he picked it up seeing that it was Brie.

"Talk." He said and Brie told him what had happened. Seth was relieved for a moment that his friends were alright. But killing a cop was stupid on Rusev's end. Now the police would be after him with full force. Or maybe he knew that Seth means were cut down now as well.

Seth reached the parking garage as he heard a car driving down the ramp and fast. He stood on the ramp, gun drawn and fired away at the approaching SUV but that SOB didn't even flinch he gunned the engine and drove right at Seth and fast.

Seth' clip was empty and the car was just a couple feet away when suddenly Seth was tackled to the left side from his right and hit the pavement really hard the other 225 pounds of flesh on him knocking the air out of him.

Dean looked up and fired at the passenger side of the car but couldn't hit anything useful as the car passed them and broke down the gate on his way out.

"Damn it. You ok?" Dean asked and got up.

"You just speared the living hell out of me! Am I ok?" Seth sat up holding his rips. "I eased your fall." Dean pointed out.

"Hell you did asshole." Seth grumbled and got up, touching his ribs gingerly.

"Hospital is right there cry baby. He would have run you over without flinching. Are you stupid?"

"I had a plan. I was going to jump on his hood."

"Oh yeah? Like a ninja? You can't fly brother so stop trying! Whom did he shoot?" Dean asked to stop the bickering.

"Dallas." Seth pressed out and grabbed his gun to go to the hospital. Dean followed him.

"For real? Whelp is dead?"

Dean saw the body on the ground in front of the hospital and some doctors around it. As he neared the scene he couldn't resist and stepped close.

"He really has that stupid grin on his face even in death." He pointed out and Seth glanced over his shoulder. "Creepy." He just pointed out and walked inside. Brie, Bryan and Claire were in a room at the back, Bryan guarded the door. He visibly relaxed when he saw Seth and Dean approach.

"Couldn't save the cop. But Claire is fine. It seems that each new stressful situation only makes her angrier."

Seth nodded and walked in, Dean on his heels.

Claire looked up at Seth' windblown hair, his torn suit jacket and the scratches on his hands.

"What happened to you?" she asked. "Oh, now you are worried? We broke up, didn't we?" Seth was full of adrenaline and couldn't hold that comment back.

Dean's blue eyes went wide. "Are you kidding me? That's why you are so pissy? Wow."

"Get out Dean. Get out Brie. Dean take care of the police, I need to talk to Claire."

Dean wanted to argue but Brie grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out with her.

Once Brie shut the door Seth turned to Claire. She sat on a stretcher, her legs dangling in the air and she didn't look at Seth.

"You broke up with me. I respect that. But Claire, that doesn't change the fact that I care about you." He tried to make her feel like she was in control. But in his heart he knew that he wouldn't let her go so easily. But for the time being he would let her think she won.

"We identified the guy who…did this to you."

"He raped me Seth. You can say it in my face. Dean does."

"I don't give a damn what Dean does!" he grunted and tried to reign his emotions back in.

"We know his name. Alexander Rusev. He is doing this because he thinks I got his girlfriend killed during a mission. I didn't, it was an accident. Regardless he is coming after me now. Starting by hurting the people close to me. He is ruthless and he has nothing to lose. He killed a cop just to show me that he can and will kill. That means Claire that I have to get you out of here and keep you safe somewhere. We already shipped Josh and Lilly off to Florida. Dani will stay especially now that the DAs office will probably order a manhunt on Rusev. My boys can take care of themselves. That leaves you. And I will take care of you and you will listen to me and do what I say."

"What if I don't listen to you?" "Then I will put you into protective custody." Claire made a face and folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Okay, but only because I don't want to see any more people hurt because of this."

"Good enough for me."

The door was pushed open and Seth spun around, coming face to face with the Chief.

Dean stood behind the man, shrugging apologetic.

"What the hell is going on here son? I have one of my own out there on the pavement, dead. Your people are not cooperating and the lunatic pretends to run the show out there."

Dean stepped into the room as well and shut the door.

"This is no matter for the police Chief. This is army business and I only try to save you some work. I am sure NCIS will show up here in good time." Dean explained and Seth looked grim.

"I want to know what is going on here Colby." The Chief addressed his son by his birth name.

"Claire was attacked last night. The guy who did it is a former SEAL and he is coming after me. Let us handle this father. We know how to deal with a rogue SEAL."

"Oh yeah? Look how well you handled it so far. You haven't showed up at the precinct for your statement. One of my cops was shot…"

"He was a creepy bastard." Dean murmured and the Chief shot him a look.

"You _handling_ this situation only gets people killed. Look at you, you are already hurt as well."

"That was me actually." Dean piped up not really helping. Seth rolled his eyes at his bother.

"I will take Claire with me. You are clearly way over your head with this. And if you decide to take matters into your own hands and hinder police work, I will all put you in jail."

The Chief wanted to walk up to Claire but Seth stepped in front of him and in an instant Dean was beside him. They may bicker, they may argue, but in the end they would stand united, no questions asked.

"She stays with us. And I will do whatever is necessary to protect my friends and myself. Claire, let's go."

Claire was of the stretcher and even took Seth offered hand and walked out with him.

That left Dean and the Chief in a staring contest.

"Your boy stands on his own two feet now Chief." Dean taunted. "Shut up Ambrose. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid and make sure he and his girl survive this. Be useful for once."

"I don't take orders from you, but rest assured, I take a bullet if necessary to protect my friends."

Dean left the room and together with Seth and Claire walked to a waiting Roman.

They got into the car and Roman drove off.

"This is getting messy." The Samoan pointed out.

"Yes, and I will do something about it. Let us re-group and end this. Dean, do you have a place where we can crash for a little while? Somewhere safe?"

"You make it sound like I have a thousand hide-outs." Dean complained.

"You have 7 in the city." Roman told him and Dean shot him a look. "How do you know that?"

Roman smiled. "I am good with a computer. But lately 6 of the 7 hideouts went untouched because you established an 8th hideout." Dean wanted to go for Romans throat. He sat on the passenger seat and Seth got between them.

"Stop it." Seth warned them.

"You spend all your time with Lilly these days. Go to Brooklyn only for a night or two during the week." Roman smirked and Dean had enough. "You are just jealous that I am getting some and you don't. Turn left here. As you know, I have a hide-out close by."

"Oh I know." Roman said and drove to the nearest hide-out.

**A/N: Ding Dong the Bo is dead. I couldn't resist. I wanted to kill someone and he was asking for it. Really. Dean told me he would gladly do it, but I had to tell him, that Lilly would be mad about it. So now Rusev actually did us all a favour, huh?**

**The next chapters will be leading to the showdown. So prepare yourselves!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So, most of you are happy Bo is dead? I don't know how to feel about that. You scare me! But I scare myself as well, because it felt so good to kill him. He really creeps me out.**

**This is the last slow paced chapter. The next one will be the big finale, I am not sure if I split that one up (cliffhanger) or if I give it to you in one. Hmmm. YOu all know how you can convince me to give it to you in one, right? (hint: reviews).**

**BTW: I received many first time reviews over the last two chapters. Thank you so much! I really, really, really appreciate each review. I catch myself sometimes at work, when my mood is bad, and I get a new review and my face instantly brightens. It really does. Thank you!**

**Chapter 8**

They arrived at Deans hide out a little while later and settled in. The two women went into a room because Claire was pale, and clearly not able to stay up any longer.

Dean went out to do some shopping, he was good enough at that by now and Roman got the electronics running. Seth paced up and down in the room trying to figure out a plan.

"Why don't I offer myself to him? Tell him, _here, I will be there, pick me up._ We have to be one step ahead of him Roman, we have to know where he is. Right now we are two steps behind and we don't know where he will show up or who he is targeting next. Plus the police is after him now. Time is running out on him and his plan for revenge as well, he has to act quickly and he might act desperate."

Roman listened to Seth speech and nodded. "I agree with you. And we need information on the police investigation. I will get Dani to her office, she can find out what is going on."

"That's good. Ambrose and I can try and figure out where Rusev is and work on a plan."

With that settled Roman went to pick up Dani. Claire was asleep.

"Put the vest on and lets go." Roman told her and five minutes later they left the house just as Dean returned.

"Where are you going?"

"DAs office trying to find out how the police investigation is going."

"Okay, be careful." Dean addressed them both and went inside.

"Here buddy, got some food. Change of clothes is in the other bedroom. I'll be out to put my ear on the ground."

Seth looked up from his computer. He studied Dean for the longest time. "You will not leave. You have a girl to think about as well. Put your ear to the ground my ass. You want to smoke him out, parade on Time Square probably."

"Damn that was the plan. Parade around on Time Square naked. You know me too well. Okay I'll stay, work from here."

Dean got down and just as his ass hit the chair there was a scream from the bedroom. Seth was up in an instant and at Claire's side three seconds later. She was trashing around wildly and he grabbed her arms and pulled her close.

"Shhh baby I've got you. You are safe. It's fine. Shhh Claire." Claire woke up and wanted to get away from Seth instantly but he held her close. That freaked her out even more but he didn't let go. "I am here Claire. I will not go away. I am here." he tried to soothe her. And when he felt her hot tears on his shirt he knew he had won this round.

"I will not let you go. Never. I just found you. We will get through this." He kissed the top of her head and held her close until she calmed down.

"I feel so dirty Seth. How can you even hold me like this?" she asked, her voice not more than a whisper.

"Because I love you Claire." he answered her simply and she looked up into his brown eyes which were full of emotions right now.

Dean chose this moment to walk into the room holding Seth phone in his hands.

_It's him_ he mouthed and ignored the fact that the air was heavy with emotions.

Seth took the phone and was all of a sudden cold and all business.

"Talk." he told Rusev, his voice impatient and he left the room, Dean hot on his heels.

"That were two warning shots Seth. You can be sure the third kills someone you hold dear. Who will it be? That lunatic who saved you this morning? Your Samoan bulldozer? The nice ADA? Or maybe your father?"

"You son of a bitch. This is between you and me. No one has to die. Let's meet and end this. I leave the Hounds behind and you and me end this once and for all."

"Ahh Seth, where would be the fun in that? I want you to suffer like I have."

"It was an accident. The only ones to blame are the Russians."

He looked at Dean. "No confirmation yet." he whispered.

"Lana was a mole. She told them we were coming. The Russians tied up loose ends."

"Bullshit!" Rusev, otherwise calm and collected screamed into the phone.

"Come to the docks, pier 24. Midnight. Alone." Rusev said and hung up.

Seth grinded his teeth.

"You will not go alone." Dean stated and Seth said: "Who wants to stop me? You?"

Dean let it slide. "I will go alone and end this. You stay with Claire, keep her safe." Seth stated with authority.

"We will see, let the big guy decide."

"No we will not. This is my fight. Mine alone."

"We are a team Seth."

"Not in this. Stay behind or I make you stay behind."

With that he left the room to go back to Claire.

She sat upright in the bed and eyed Seth careful when he walked in, slamming the door behind him. She jerked a little and seth swallowed his anger.

"It's alright Claire. It was him. He wants to meet me at midnight. I will end this tonight."

"A part of me don't want you to go. The other part wants you to go and kick his ass. Since I will not be able to talk you out of this…kick his ass. But be careful."

"I will. You should get some more rest. I will leave you alone."

"No. Please. Stay. Could you sit over there and make sure I am safe?" Claire pointed to a recliner in the corner.

"Sure. Close your eyes. No one will touch you with Dean outside and me in here. I promise."

And a couple of minutes later Seth noticed that her breath evened out. She was asleep.

*X*X*

One hour before the deadline the three owners of Shield Inc. stood around a table full of weapons. Claire was with them, Danielle was at the office, working on the case, guarded by an employee of Shield Inc.. She didn't know about what was going down in an hour.

Seth closed his black tactical vest over his chest.

"I don't like this." Roman pointed out.

"You don't have to." Seth bit back and put ammunition into his vest.

"It will be an ambush." Dean tried to reason.

"I know and I am prepared."

He put one last gun into his cargo pants, black as well, and was good to go. With minimal movement he tied his hair back. "Stay here. Protect Claire. I will call you when this is over."

Seth turned towards Claire and walked up to her.

"I know you are a million miles away from any intimacy but this might be my last chance for this."

Seth grabbed her and kissed her, desperately and angrily at the same time. And Claire kissed him back, giving him hope that should he survive this they could have a chance at this.

"Be careful." she told him and he nodded and walked out.

The door wasn't even closed five seconds and Dean and Roman got busy.

"Walk alone, stupid ass." Dean mumbled and left the room with Roman. Claire just stared. 5 minutes later they returned dressed in black. Cargo pants, tactical vests, hell Roman even had black wrist bands.

Claire did a double take. "You go after him?"

Dean rolled his eyes and Roman grinned. "Sure we do. Stupid Ninja, he should know better than this."

"I will come with you!" Claire said and grabbed a gun from the table, one Dean wanted to grab at the same time.

"You guard the car." was all he said and Roman looked at him like _What the hell?_

"She would follow us. Let her tag along in the first place, armed and it will be alright." Dean explained and grabbed another gun.

"Ready?" he asked and Roman nodded, throwing a bullet proof vest at Claire.

She put it on on the way out and they were on the road a minute later.

Danielle glanced at her phone. One new text message.

**_Pier 24, midnight. Unsub is supposed to be there._**

That was the whole message. Send from an unknown number.

She dialed the Chief, grabbed her jacket and left the office through a back door. On the front waited one of Romans man to protect her. Fool.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I hate doing this to you. But you forced my hand. I hate this as much as Seth hated hitting Dean with that chair over...and over...and over again.**

**Chapter 9**

Seth arrived at the pier. It was empty and dark but out of a nearby warehouse came light. He parked the car and got out, not even trying to be quiet.

He walked in through the front and checked his surrounding immediately.

Exit at the back, a lot of cover from old machines inside. Plenty places to hide. Plenty places for a sniper attack. But Rusev wanted to do this face to face so Seth walked further. In the middle of the warehouse he saw a figure sitting on a chair, hands tied behind his back. Seth ran to the person, his heart beating faster. He turned the chair around and found an unknown man, dead, his throat slid.

"He is the original rapist the police is looking for. I only had your girl. She was feisty but I have no real interest in other women anymore." Seth looked around, trying to find Rusev.

"I borrowed his van, stumbled over him one night. Asshole. Begged like a little bitch for his life. Will you beg for your life as well Rollins?"

"Never." Seth spat out and saw Rusev walking up on him. The bulky man with Bulgarian roots had easily 80 or 90 pounds on him, he way broader than even Roman but Seth was waiting for this fight. He wanted a hand to hand combat fight.

So he tightened his gloves one last time and moved his hands in a come and get me gesture.

And Rusev ran at him and the fight began.

Danielle reached the parking garage. She choose a non-descript black sedan from the DAs office and walked up to the car.

She never reached it. She was teasered from behind and fell unconscious to the floor…

Roman, Dean and Claire reached the piers. They parked far away enough and killed the engine.

"Close the doors Claire and keep your weapon drawn. Fire if you have to. But please stay in this car, alright? No matter what happens. I let you get hurt once, I will not let you get hurt again." Roman was serious and Claire nodded. "OK." She said and Dean shot her a look.  
She looked back at him with the same intensity and dared him to say something.

"Do what he says Claire." He just told her and got out of the car.

Seth had a good 20 minutes on them and they could only hope that he was still alive.

Seth waited for the tank to come closer. His only chance was to use Rusev's momentum against him. Shortly before the big man reached him he stepped aside and pushed the running Rusev into one of the machines.

But the big man just took the hit, unimpressed and kicked behind him, hitting Seth leg. The two toned ninja like fighter groaned and started to hit Rusev's massive back with punches. A kick was out of the question at the moment, his leg hurt too much.

Rusev was not even reacting to the punches. He swung his arm around hitting Seth at the temple.

He went down and tried to regain his focus. Somehow the human bulldozer had managed to knock out both of Seth contact lenses with this punch and Seth had a hard time to focus on anything.

Before he could really get himself back together Rusev grabbed him by the vest, lifting him up like he was nothing and throw him into another machine.

Seth was lucky enough to roll over it but he hit the ground again pretty hard.

He had to think of something and fast or this was over soon.

"You are resilient for such a little guy." Rusev taunted him as he came closer. Seth used that and kicked at him from the ground, hitting his knee and the big man groaned.

"You are as slow as expected for such a big guy." Seth mumbled and got back up to his feet, kicking Rusev in the side of the head, once, twice, but the third time the kick was blocked and Rusev held on to Seth foot. He pulled hard on the leg and Seth fell to the ground, and for a moment the air was knocked out of his lungs. He really was screwed.

Dean and Roman had reached the warehouse. They had switched to hand signals now. Roman would take the back, Dean would take the front.

Dean nodded and left, they would start to go in there in two minutes so he hurried to the front.

Inside he heard fighting sounds and he was really getting anxious.

At the front he crouched down and cursed when he heard a vehicle approaching. He sank deeper into the shadows and saw a car driving into the warehouse.

"We have a problem. Rusev got company. He is not alone in this." Dean used his intercom.

"Doesn't matter. We stick to the plan." Sometimes the big guy gave a damn about everything. He just wanted to get his friend out of there.

Rusev was about to deliver a punch to Seth face when he saw the car.

"Ahhh, our guest have arrived. Hold that thought." He let Seth sink to the ground, grabbed his arms to put them on his back and stepped on them to keep them in place, rendering Seth almost helpless.

"Rusev, look who I have with me."

Danielle was thrown and the concrete in front of the car. She was barely conscious. Seth' eyes widened. First because somehow they had caught Danielle. And second of all because her captor was a blonde woman he thought had been dead for the last 4 years.

"She wasn't the mole Seth. I was. We left her for dead! I went back. She was still alive. They recruited her as well. But I will never forgive you for leaving my Lana behind. You knew how much she meant to me. And I begged you to get her out but you told me the mission comes first. Well Seth, this mission comes first. And you will die tonight." He stepped harder on Seth arms and he winced in pain.

"Bring that bitch here." He told Lana and the blonde woman grabbed Danielle by the hair and dragged her over to Seth.

"Are you alright?" he asked concerned. "Yes." Dani mumbled, still pretty dizzy.

"It is cute who much you care for your friends Seth. She will die in front of your eyes. And then we wait on your friends. And they will die in front of your eyes. And then we will find your girl Claire, and I will have my way with her for a couple of days. And then she dies in front of your eyes. And last, Lana will kill you. How does that sound?" Rusev grabbed Seth by the hair and pulled him up. "How does that sound?" he repeated his question and Seth tried to take a swing at him but missed.

"What happened Seth? Is your vision blurry? Oh wait, I remember something. It was on that mission. We barely made it out. There was that explosion right beside us. Something happened there with your eyes, right? Look at me!" Rusev looked at Seth eyes and laughed.

"Can't see so well, can you? What a shame."

Dani gasped. She knew Seth had contacts, mainly because Claire kept nagging him to take them out whenever he was too tired. He must have lost them. Shit, this wasn't good. Not at all.

Dean and Roman had heard the conversation and the Samoan was barely able to hold his position. They had Danielle.

"I can't wait any longer Dean. You have to deflect them." Roman said into his intercom.

"Always me." Dean mumbled but got up.

"Hey guys, don't you know that the party doesn't start till I walk in?" Dean called out and walked up to the small group.

Lana pulled out her gun and fired at Dean but he was down behind some boxes in an instant, having anticipated this move.

"Now, is that a way to treat a guest?" he asked and loaded his gun. He couldn't fire, not with his friends in the line of fire. But he could let them know that he was armed and ready.

"Where is your other friend?" Rusev called out.

"Running an errand. I forgot my pills this morning, he is picking them up right now." Dean moved closer drawing their fire, by now both of them were taking shots, at himself, giving Roman a chance to come closer.

"You know I get really edgy when I don't have my pills. Reckless even."

Lana had Danielle by the hair in front of herself, and Rusev had Seth still on the ground.

Dean was drawing their fire again when Roman made his move.

He ran towards them colliding with Rusev's massive body. The ex SEAL and now Russian spy grunted surprised and fired an uncontrolled shot. Roman was on him and secured his hand with the weapon in it a second later fighting for the upper hand in this.

Dean cursed because this commotion was not good.

Danielle dropped to the ground and Lana was on Seth, kicking him violently to keep him on the ground.

**A/N: Reviews = Update Tomorrow. No reviews? Update...later. I really hate doing this. Bo-lieve me. This hurts ME more than it does you. ;)**


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: Wow. So many reviews! 11! Some first timers or not frequent reviewers. Thank you! Some of my stalkers. I love you!_

_..._

_Dean cursed because this commotion was not good._

_Danielle dropped to the ground and Lana was on Seth, kicking him violently to keep him on the ground._

**Chapter 10**

Dean used this to come closer, grab Danielle and pull her behind a cover.

"Hey, stay with me." Dean told her and pressed his hand to her chest. Rusev's uncontrolled shot had hit her in the chest, and she wore no vest.

That's why he fucking told everyone to wear a fucking vest.

"Damn it." He said angry and put more pressure on the wound.

"Dean, it hurts." Danielle said, her voice was weak and scared.

"Yes, bullets hurt. Listen we never had that talk you know? About your brother. About his death." He wanted to make her angry so she would stay conscious.

"He was drunk all the time back then. I knew that. But I blamed you. Was easier. Was easier because he went out with you because I had Roman over. Wanted to be alone. Kicked him out."

"Shhh, it was my fault still, I should have noticed he wasn't playing."

"You were drunk as well. I reviewed the case over and over. Not your fault, but I blamed you."

Dani had tears in her eyes now. "I want Joe, please. I want Joe."

Dean rolled his eyes, not because he was annoyed but fuck, Dani was dying in his arms and he was pissed. He couldn't help his brothers. He had to keep the pressure on the wound.

"Roman! Dani got hit, badly!" he called out.

Roman was into a fist fight with Rusev when he heard Dean's call. He used his momentum, jumped and hit the massive man with some kind of superman punch knocking him out.

One look at Seth told him, that the ninja was holding himself against Lana.

He ran to where Dean's voice had sounded from and found his friend and the mother of his son on the ground. Dean had his hand on her chest but the fabric around Dean's hand was red with her blood.

"I am here Danielle. I am here. Hold on a little longer." He pulled out his phone, calling in the emergency.

Then he held her hand. "You will be fine. The ambulance is on the way. Just a little longer Dani. We have you. Dean is doing his best there."

"I know. I apologized to him. Sorry Joe. I shouldn't have made it so hard on you to love me and your son. Shouldn't have make you choose between him," she eyes Dean, "and myself. Sorry." "Shh baby girl, it's alright. I have a great relationship to my son. Don't worry. And he loves you. You were the best mother a boy could wish for while he grew up and I was away all the time. The fucking best."

Dean felt a little awkward but he couldn't move, couldn't let go of the wound even just for a second. And he pressed so fiercely that his arms got tired, his muscles began to shake but he bit his lip. He wouldn't let go. He wouldn't let another Bishop kid die tonight.

Seth had fought himself back up to his feet. But Lana was good. Really good. And his sight was blurry and Rusev had weakened him a good bit. He felt Lana tiring a bit and thought that his chance would come any time now. He had the stamina from his endless crossfit sessions. But Lana felt herself tire as well and she saw her beloved on the ground. That made her grab for her gun and point it at Seth. This had to end.

A shot was fired and Seth eyes widened.

Lana was surprised as well and looked at the two toned ninja before she fell to her knees.

A nice hole was in her chest and she looked down at it before falling to her side. She was dead.

Seth looked back up at Claire. She held the gun steady in her hand still pointing it on the place where Lana just stood. Her eyes focused on Seth now. It was maybe wrong to think this, but he couldn't be prouder right now. He had taught her to handle a gun all those years ago. She was a good shot. He just wished he could see more than her silhouette because of his blurry vision.

That and because his focus was solely on Claire stopped him from noticing that Rusev was back on his feet. He grabbed Claire from behind and punched the gun out of her hand, holding her head with his massive arms in a lock that could snap her neck with just one move.

"Ahh Seth, and here we are at the point where I snap her neck."

Seth pulled out a gun and aimed it at the tank who was a good two heads taller than Claire.

"Do you really want to shoot your own girl? You can hardly look straight." Rusev laughed.

Seth still pointed the gun.

"Shoot him Seth. Shoot him. You will not hit me. Never will you hit me." Claire shouted and looked at the man she loved.

Seth looked at her. "I will hit you." He said and slowly lowered his gun, firing a shot.

He hit Claire in the leg and Rusev was so surprised that he let go of Claire's neck. Seth used that and fired a second shot just as Claire broke down. Clear into the chest of the rogue SEAL.

The massive man fell like a tree and was instantly dead.

Seth crawled over to Claire who swore like a sailor.

"You bastard." She complained. As Seth reached her and pulled out his belt to tie it around her leg to stop the blood flow.

"It is though and through." She told him when he tried to focus. "You lost your contacts. I told you you should get your eyes fixed with a surgery. But do you listen?" Seth just laughed and pulled her close. "I love you Claire." He said and the next thing was. "Oh my God, I shot you!"

"What happened?" Dani asked and Roman risked a glance. "Claire shot Lana, Seth shot Claire…in the leg and then he shot Rusev as the line of fire was clear. They are fine. Claire is bitching at him. She will survive."

Roman could hear the ambulance in the distance and shared a look with Dean.

Danielle was pale and shaking violently.

"I will take it from here." Roman said and moved his hands over Deans. The man with the short unruly hair and the wild blue eyes nodded, pulled his hand away and let Roman take over.

"Dani, for what it's worth. I like you, and I liked your brother. You were both great friends. And I will tell your son every day how great his uncle was and what a feisty fighter his mother…is."

He squeezed her hand and walked out on them, brushing his hand over his eyes, leaving a blood strain there.

He walked out on the battlefield, checking on Lana. Dead. Next he walked to Rusev. Dead.

And then he got down beside Seth and Claire.

"Hey, nice shot. I taught you that, right?"

"No man, I taught her that!" Seth complained. He looked at Dean with unfocused eyes.

"Look elsewhere. You freak me out when you squint." Dean told him and checked on Claire's leg which looked fine all things considered.

As the sirens of the police and ambulance became louder Danielle became quieter.

"Joe, I want you to promise me, that you will be a good father to our son. I know you are but he needs a man in his life to look up to. Promise me you will love him and guide him and turn him into an honorable young man."

"Dani, I promise you that, but you will be there for him as well." Roman's voice was hoarse from unshed tears.

"We both know…" She coughed up blood. "We both know that I won't be there. Be there for our son, and tell your friends I love them all. Especially Dean. Tell him I am so happy for him that he found love. And continue your fight against injustice Joe, because this world is a better place because of people like you. I will always believe in the Shield."

Danielle closed her eyes and her breathing became shallow. "No, baby come on. The ambulance is almost here. You have to fight. You have to watch our son grow into a man, become a proud husband and father. Please Dani, fight. Come on."

He felt her body go limp and he put her on the ground and checked her vitals.

"AMBROSE!" he called out in vain to his brother.

Dean rushed to his side.

"You have to do CPR. I have to keep my hand on the wound. We just have to keep her with us a little longer. DO IT NOW!" he screamed at Dean and Dean started with a cardiac massage and the occasional mouth to mouth.

Police arrived and entered the building with drawn guns.

"Hands up in the air!" they shouted at Roman and Dean but both men gave a damn.

"Kinda busy right now." Dean growled. "Send the paramedics here. NOW!" Roman barked.

Seconds later two paramedics showed up.

"Shot in the chest. She lost a lot of blood and lost consciousness like 2 minutes ago." Dean explained and one paramedic took over his place the other went to tend to the wound.

"You have to safe her." Roman said and stepped away to give them room. Dean put a bloody hand on his shoulder. "They do what they can big man." He tried to calm him down.

"Hands over your head!" the police again, now that Danielle was treated by the paramedics the police figured out that Dean and Roman could very well lift their hands.

"We are the good guys. Ask your Chief." Dean said and tried his hardest to raise his hands and keep an eye on Roman at the same time who didn't move a muscle but stared just at Danielle and the paramedics.

"We are from Shield Inc.. We have a license for all the weapons you see and the ones you don't see. Listen, my friend Roman here, that's the mother of his kid down there fighting for her life. He can…." Dean wanted to say explode but that was maybe not the right choice of words…"he is pretty tense right now. I can calm him down but if you keep pointing those guns at us this could get ugly. So, please…put your guns down, let me take care of my friend. We will go nowhere."

"It's okay officers. Lower your weapons."

Dean was never in his whole life happier to see the Chief. Her lowered his hands and grabbed Roman's arm.

"Where is Seth?" "Around the corner. He is half blind but alright." Dean said and the Chief left in search of his son.

Seth held Claire close to him when the police stormed the building. He raised his hands and could hear his brothers argue with the police as well.

"No threat. Shield Inc. Seth Rollins. Bad guys are all dead." He explained but the police officers didn't lower their guns.

"I got this." The Chief. Finally.

Reluctantly the officers lowered their service weapons and the Chief crouched down beside Claire and his son.

By now Seth was in severe pain. He was badly beaten but when his father came eye to eye with him he pushed himself up straight.

"Are you two alright?" the Chief asked and both Claire and Seth nodded. "Good. Because Seth, I told you that if you get in the middle of this, you have to face the consequences. Look at this mess. Three dead bodies. One ADA fighting for her life. Your girlfriend wounded. You…" the Chief checked Seth eyes. "Half blind like the Lunatic said. I'll be damned." He chuckled.

"Yeah, it's funny. Thank God I only see you blurry." Seth mumbled.

"We will get you to a hospital. The first ambulance is for Danielle. You two get the next one. And this time Seth, I am gonna need your statement, understood? From all of you. And I hope it corresponds because I will keep you apart until I get what I want."

"Do whatever you need to do." Seth told his father tiredly and grabbed Claire's hand, rested his head on her shoulder.

"As long as you don't try to break us apart. Because I will never ever leave this woman again. I will marry her, and we will have beautiful auburn haired, cross eyed children." Seth stated and Claire gasped.

"Oh sorry, that was a crappy proposal."

"I was gasping about the cross eyed children. You got hurt in an accident, it's not genetic. Plus, it was a great proposal but a crappy, crappy timing when one of our friends fights for her life."

"True. Sorry. Got a little carried away. You are right. Shit." Seth hugged Claire. Deep inside he was so selfish right now because he was so glad that Claire was alive. But he would never voice this thought to anyone.

"Would you say yes if I asked you again at a more appropriate time?" Seth whispered and Claire answered: "You will have to find out."

Roman and Dean watched the paramedics work. They had started CPR, they had pushed epy into her, but her heart just wouldn't start beating.

"You have to do something!" Roman growled and Dean tightened his grab on Roman's shoulder.

"Big guy, Joe. Joe, look at me!" Dean urged his friend and Roman looked at him.

"We all did what we could. She lost a lot of blood, her lunge probably collapsed. Maybe some arteries got hit or her heart. We did what we could, but her injuries were too severe. Let her go. Right now they only pump blood through a lifeless body. Joe, believe me, if there was a chance I would urge them to keep going. But she is gone. Danielle is gone."

"I want them to keep trying." Roman said stubbornly.

"I know. But she is beyond saving. Please brother."

When Roman let his head hang in defeat Dean nodded towards the paramedics who shot them questioning glances. Yes, they could stop this.

"Come here man." Dean pulled Roman into a fierce hug. He knew that without Lilly and his therapy, this wouldn't be possible, he couldn't stand the touch. But now he felt the big Samoan sag against him and he let him down gently on the ground, hugging him still.

"I've got you." Dean said over and over again while the paramedics loaded Danielle's lifeless body onto a stretcher to get her to a hospital for confirmation of death.

"Roman, come on. Let's go to Seth, see that he get's to the hospital with Claire. That bastard shot her. Come on." Dean helped Roman up and they reached Seth as he was loaded onto a stretcher alongside Claire.

Seth took one look at his brother and bit his lip.

"Shit Joe, I am sorry. So sorry. Come here." Seth held out his fist and Dean joined him looking at Roman.

"We are brothers man. We stand united. You are not alone. Come on."

Roman put his fist beside the fists of his brothers.

"Thanks." He told them and walked out of the warehouse. Dean wanted to follow him but Claire held him back with tears in her eyes.

"Let him go. He needs a moment. He knows we go to the hospital. He will show up there. Dean, come on."

Dean followed the couple to the ambulance and rode with them to the hospital.

For once he was the one who got hurt the least. What a nice change.

But he had blood on his hands. Danielle's blood. He never thought he would be so sad about her passing. Not that he cared, but he cared about the people she left behind. Her son, and the father of her son. Call him blind, but he didn't know that Roman and Danielle still had such a deep bond.

In the hospital Claire and Seth got treated and Dean used the time to go to a restroom.

He leaned his bloody hands on the sink and looked into the mirror.

His face was bloody and dirty as well. His hair was plastered to his forehead and his blue eyes were dark and stormy.

He washed his hands first, countless times he soaped them, scratched them clean, rinsed them and did it all over again. He also rubbed his face almost raw and shrugged out of his tactical vest and shirt underneath to clean his upper body.

Once he felt remotely clean he fished his phone out of his pants, sagged down against the tiled wall, pulled his knees to his chest and dialed Lilly's number by heart.

She answered after only two rings.

"Dani is dead. Everyone else is halfway ok." he said hoarsely and that was all he managed to say. He became quiet and rubbed his eyes but he couldn't stop the tears.

Lilly listened to him cry and didn't say anything, just occasionally she said that she is there.

After a good ten minutes Dean calmed down enough to talk again.

"I have to check on the others. Find Roman. Don't tell Josh. I am sure the big guy wants to tell him himself. Find a flight that leaves in the morning for both of you. Come back here Lilly because I need you."

Lilly inhaled sharply. Out of all things Dean could have told her, him telling her that he needed her there showed how much progress he made in just the short few weeks she was with him. Dean always was a loner and someone who dealt with problems by himself. That he admitted that he needed another human being told her everything she needed to know.

"I will be there. Call me if you need me. I love you Jon."

He hung up and once again washed his face, this time to clean it from his tears. Once he looked presentable again he left the restroom and searched for Seth and Claire.

Claire was in a bed, one leg bandaged but she looked fine otherwise.

"Hey Claire, how are you holding up?" "Okay, all things considered. I hold on to the anger that your idiot brother shot me."

Dean chuckled. "Half blind at that. You are lucky."

"I am lucky to have you. All of you. I...I can start processing things now I guess. But right now everything seems so surreal."

"That's the adrenaline pumping through your veins. Once it ebbs it will come crashing down on you. But remember that we are there for you. I will go search for Seth now. Rest Claire. You did well today. Thank you for saving my brother."

"We saved each other." she told him and leaned back against the pillow to rest.

Dean's next stop was Seth room. He looked bad, but most of it were bruises. Someone had brought him his glasses.

"Hey Dean. How is Claire?"

"Good so far considering she got shot." Seth lowered his head. "I know it was risky. But I knew where she stood, she talked to me for that reason. I had it under control."

Dean nodded and walked up to Seth. "You got your glasses. Good. Give them to me for a second I will clean them for you."

Seth didn't even question his brother and took his glasses off and pressed them into Dean's hand. The wildcard did something unexpected and put them down on the nightstand and in the next second Seth had Dean's straight right hand connecting with his chin.

"What the..." he cursed holding his mouth and he wanted to argue some more but a deep voice stopped them.

"Enough."

It was Roman. Dean spun around and looked at his brother.

He looked miserable.

"He deserved it." Dean said while he put his hands in his pockets and shrugged.

Roman walked in, picked up Seth glasses and gave them back to him.

"I would do the same but I am not in the mood." he explained.

"I will arrange for Lilly and Josh to come home. I want to tell my boy in person that his mother is...gone."

He swallowed.

"Lilly takes care of a flight already. They will be here in the morning. I will let you know when they land."

Roman nodded and looked at a spot on the wall with dead eyes.

"Why don't we get Seth to Claire and leave this place Joe? Get a drink and then pick up our family in the morning?"

Roman didn't react and Dean helped Seth out of the bed and down the hall to Claire's room.

Seth walked over in his very sexy hospital gown and slipped into bed beside her.

"Take care of Roman. We will be fine." Seth told Dean and Claire nodded as well.


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: Have your tissues handy for this.**_

_**Oh and...a surprise guest star will be in this chapter!**_

**Chapter 11**

Once Dean left Claire pulled up her cover and Seth crawled under it.

"I am glad you are okay." Seth told her without really touching her.

"Yeah I will be fine. The leg will heal. Thank you Seth for everything."

"I love you Claire, I would do anything for you. And I will not leave your side. You can push all you want or accept it and save the energy. I know you will need time to process everything and I will give you that time. You should go and talk to a specialist. It helped Dean. And then I want you to give us a fair chance. You know I love you and you love me. Don't let Rusev win in the end. Fight for us Claire."

Claire brushed some tears away. "I don't want to lose you either. You are such a good man Seth and I love you so much. I will work on me and us I promise. Give me time."

"I will. All the time in the world. And then we need to take care of Roman and Josh. The next couple of month will be hard. I thought I would never say this but I am glad that Dean is stable and that he and Lilly are fine, because they will have to carry us all for a while."

"And they will. But I want to carry myself. I thought about something. It felt good getting revenge by shooting Lana even though I know that the measure was drastic. I want to help women get some control back after such a thing or not even getting into such a situation. I want to teach self-defense classes. Maybe rent a room and do some courses. Maybe you could help?"

"That sounds like a plan and we will get to that. It is an excellent idea. You have a good heart Claire I am proud of you."

"Dean gave me that idea. To do something good out of something bad."

Seth stroked his hurting chin. "Who would have thought that he is so wise? Rest now Claire. I am here. I may be beaten but nothing will get past me tonight, I promise."

Claire closed her eyes. Suddenly she felt tired and Seth beside her gave her the safety she needed right now.

Dean and Roman sat silently in the office. Roman had his shot of whiskey emptied already, Dean was staring into his full glass thoughtfully.

"I am glad we were good in the end." Dean mused and Roman lifted his head.

"You could have stopped the hatred years ago! She could have been a part of the group. Instead I had to put her in her office, away from you, alone!"

Dean looked up. His formerly sympathizing eyes turned cold. He would let Roman rant he understood the need to lash out but he wouldn't listen to it smiling.

"All your childish bickering's. Look where that got her! She is dead!"

Thank God Roman didn't say _because of you_.

He ranted some more, shot some more low blows and at some point became silent again.

"You done? Because it isn't just my fault. It was both our fault. And she wasn't alone, we had a man in the front and she sneaked out. They wanted her and they got her. That she got shot was an accident. It was no one's fault Joe. Stuff happens. I feel for you and your son, I will let you talk bullshit to me, but in the end you have to accept that it was an accident. It happened. We can't turn back the time."

Romans grey eyes were fixed on Dean.

"What big guy? Want to brawl? We can do that. But Claire will be pissed when we wreck your office. Or do you want me to tell you that it is your fault because you attacked Rusev and his shot was fired uncontrolled?"

Roman sat in his office chair at one second at the next he grabbed Dean who was sitting on the corner of his desk, around the waist and both men landed on the ground. Roman landed a couple of punches until Dean had enough and fought back, connecting his fist multiple times with Romans left kidney. At some point the pain must have recognized because Roman rolled down from Dean. He lay on his stomach, heavily breathing, his head resting on his arm.

Dean tried to catch his breath as well and he glanced over.

"Are you crying?" he whispered and Roman laughed a little.

"Asshole. Yes." he whispered back.

Dean rolled on his side and extended his left arm, resting it on the elbow. Roman took the offered hand and they lay there for a while. Roman shedding some more tears, Dean ignoring it, just holding Romans hand.

"If you ever tell anyone about this I kick your ass." Roman said finally and got up, holding his left side.

"I won't. Trust me. I am still not a touchy person. You can't imagine the length I go through for you guys. My girl is the only one that is allowed to touch me without having to fear my wrath. So this one was free. Next one isn't."

Roman nodded and walked up to Dean hugging him fiercely despite his words.

"Thank you brother. I needed that. Now I know why I put up with you all those years."

"Because of my good looks and funny jokes?"

Roman rolled his eyes.

"Because you are an asshole, but you are our asshole and we wouldn't want to trade you in for no one else. Plus, no one would want you. So we are stuck with each other. And yeah, because for tonight. Thanks."

Dean nodded awkwardly rubbing his neck. "You are drunk pal. Come we need to get to the airport. And stop rubbing your side, the blows were not that hard."

"If I pee blood I will send you the invoice from my urologist!"

"Pussy." Dean mumbled and left, Roman following him.

The two Shield owners had talked about how to handle things at the airport. Dean would take Lilly and leave, and Roman would talk to his son alone.

That was the hardest part and one that made Roman almost puke and he had really seen it all in his time in the military. But having to tell his son that his mother was dead was more than hard.

The plane landed and a couple minutes later Josh and Lilly walked out. To Romans surprise his cousin Dwayne was with them. The ex football star was built like a bull and still in good shape.

"What are you doing here Dwayne?" Roman asked and the bald man who had the nickname The Rock back in his NFL nodded at Lilly.

"That cute doll said she would feel better with me around for safety. And I couldn't believe that she is together with that freak."

He glanced at Dean.

"Listen Rock, I think..." Dean started but Dwayne interrupted him.

"It doesn't matter what you think. Let me tell you something. You hurt this beautiful woman, I will come, open a can of whoop-ass and shove it down really far up your rear end. Understood?"

Dean eyed the man and when he didn't answer Dwayne raised one eyebrow.

"I have no intention to do that. Take care of your family Dwayne. Josh, glad you are home." He ruffled the kids hair and held out his hand to Lilly. She took it and smiled sweetly at The Rock.

"And The Rock thought he had seen it all." he mumbled and watched them leave. After they were out of sight he glanced at his cousin.

"You good Joe?"

"Yeah. Let's go. Thank you for accompanying my son. Hey Josh."

"Hey dad. Where is mom?" his boy asked.

"She couldn't make it." Roman replied vaguely. He didn't want to do this at the airport. But his boy hadn't smiled since walking up to them. He was a bright child and he had probably picked up on something in Lilly's behavior or he caught up something from a conversation. Roman was sure Dwayne knew what happened and that's why he tagged along. Of course it sounded good to say it was for protection but Josh was no fool.

"Listen kiddo...let's get in the car okay?" Roman pleaded and Josh nodded.

Once all three men sat in the SUV Josh broke the silence.

"Lilly tried but she can't lie really good." Josh mumbled.

Roman pulled his son over from the passenger seat. "I am sorry Josh. You mother...got hit by a stray bullet. We tried everything we could but she died. Your mother is dead Joshua. I am so sorry."

Josh pulled away. "I knew I shouldn't have left. I could have protected her!" he screamed.

"I had a trained soldier with her Josh. There would have been nothing you could have done except getting hurt yourself and that was the last thing she wanted."

"But you could have done something!" Josh screamed again and the Rock got between them.

"Kid you are angry and sad. But your father did his best. I know that because that is who he is. He always gives his best and tries his hardest to keep his family safe. You know that. It was an accident kid. An accident."

Josh shut down, sat back in his seat, crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked out of the window. Roman sighed. It broke his heart anew to see his child in such pain.

"For what it's worth Josh. I miss her, too." Roman whispered and drove off.

Dean loaded Lilly's suitcase in the trunk, helped her into the car and sat down on the driver's seat.

Lilly reached out her hand but he held his up. "Don't." When the look in her eyes turned to hurt he swore softly and turned to her.

"Not right now. If you touch me now I break down and I would prefer to be home first." He explained with pleading eyes.

"Sure. Get us home Dean." Lilly nodded and leaned back. It still hurt but she tried to understand her boyfriend.

"Fuck this." Dean growled and grabbed Lilly by the hair and pulled her over to kiss her. "Please understand Lil. It's not that I love you less. I am still trying to figure all of this out and my emotions are running high. I held Dani while she slowly bled out and I held Roman's hand when he cried for her. I…can't deal at the moment."

Lilly brushed away some tears. "I understand. I am sorry. Sorry Jon. Just, drive home, alright? Get us home."

Jon gulped and nodded, driving the car back to Lilly's apartment.


	12. Chapter 12

**_A/N: I don't know how close you are build to the water, maybe have a tissue handy just in case!_**

**Chapter 12**

A week later it was Danielle's funeral.

Claire was still on crutches and she tried to balance them to slip her jacket on. Seth grabbed them for her.

He slept on her couch while she slept in her bedroom. He wouldn't leave her side. The distance between them was still there but there were little moments that gave Seth hope. When their bodies brushed in passing, when she let his hand rest on her shoulder for a moment. Or right now, when he leaned down to press a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you Claire." Seth said and rested his forehead on hers for a moment.

"I know Colby. And I love you, too." She put her small hands on his cheeks and kissed his lips, a promise that they would make it work.

"We have to go." Claire breathed a little later and Seth nodded.

He closed his black suit jacket and helped Claire out to the car.

Dean wore a much hated monkey suit and he felt really uncomfortable but as Lilly had pointed out to him, this wasn't about him feeling good, this was about paying respect to Danielle Bishop and her family.

The graveyard was full of people, colleagues, police, Shield Inc. employees. Security made sure that the press stayed out.

Dean spotted Roman and Josh at the sidelines. Josh looked much too old in his black suit and he was almost the spitting image of Roman.

The Rock stood beside them and the rest of Roman's family was nearby, shielding their son and grandson from the people around.

Dean grabbed Lilly's hand a little harder as they neared the group.

Roman's father who lived off his retiree in Florida with his wife stopped him.

Sika Anoa'i looked Dean up and down. He was the closest thing to a role model Dean ever had. He never judged the foster care kid when his son brought him home.

Now he looked at the man the troubled kid had turned into. He saw that the cracks began to heal, thanks to the woman beside him. He liked Lilly, she was exactly what Dean needed.

Sika offered his hand to Dean and he took it and in the next moment he was in a fierce hug. He received a clap on the shoulder and Sika nodded at him and Dean now faced Roman's mother.

She as well pulled him into a big hug and whispered: "Ever since my son brought you home the first time I wanted to do this. I thank you girlfriend that she made this possible. I have waited 17 years for this hug Jon."

"Ummm, thanks Mrs Anoa'i." Dean said his voice close to breaking.

He pulled Lilly closer beside him and she just smiled at that action.

"I am here." She told him and Roman's mother smiled thankfully at her. They let Dean and Lilly pass through to Roman and Josh.

"Hey guys." Lilly said and hugged first the kid and then the father.

Dean just hugged them. Wow, today he hugged more people than in his entire life before. But the reason was a sad one.

"Dean?" Josh piped up and Dean looked at the kid with the sad eyes.

"Can I stay with you and Lilly tonight?"

Roman's heart broke at this question but he had feared something like this would happen. His son couldn't even look him in the eyes anymore.

Dean checked silently with Roman and the Samoan just nodded. He rather had his son among friends than alone tonight.

"Sure. We can order pizza, safe Lilly the cooking, and watch some crappy movies." Dean told the young man and he nodded.

"Not that I don't like your cooking Lilly, but pizza sounds good tonight." Josh apologized.

"No worries. I am all up for pizza as well." She ruffled his hair.

Seth and Claire walked up to the group and again father and son received hugs.

Now the ceremony could start and everyone gathered around the entrance to the morgue and Roman, Seth, The Rock, The Chief and the District Attorney, Danielle's boss, walked up to the coffin to carry it.

One place was left empty. "That is your place Dean." Josh told Dean and the dishwater blonde man looked at Josh and then at Roman who nodded as well.

"Go." Lilly kissed him on the cheek and pushed him forward.

That was really almost a little too much for the man they called the lunatic fringe.

"You were Daniel's friend. He would want you to take his place." Roman explained and he took the empty handle and helped carry the coffin to the graveside.

Claire and Lilly flanked Josh, followed by Roman's family and the other guests.

The priest spoke a couple of words. The DA and the Chief as well and Roman couldn't really. He tried but he had to step back.

Josh stepped forward to the surprise of everyone and he brushed a hand over his damp eyes and looked around the crowd.

"My mother was a wonderful person. She taught me right from wrong before I could even walk. That she is dead is wrong. That she can't see me graduate in a couple of years is wrong. That she can't prosecute the men and women the police and the Shield bring to justice is wrong. That some mad man and his girlfriend robbed my mother from me is wrong. But everyone of you being here today. Everyone." His eyes were locked on Dean for a moment.

"That is right. That you support me and my dad. That is right. And that we will keep her memory alive. That is right. Thanks."

People were looking at each other. More than one had the urge to applaud but no one was sure if it was appropriate to applaud at a funeral.

Well, thank God for Dean Ambrose who gave a damn about social customs. He started to clap his hands together. Lilly joined him, probably out of loyalty. Seth and Claire, and soon everyone else clapped for this strong boy who took in the praise for his wise words and stepped back crying into his father's side.

The coffin was lowered into the ground and everyone could say their farewell alone now.

Dean and Lilly told Roman goodbye, they would not go to the gathering after talking to Josh about it.

They took the boy and left.

"Okay. I take it Josh you want to keep your mind off of this. I am down with that. But…if you feel like talking, today, tomorrow, any other time. Don't hesitate. Lilly and I, we are there for you, alright boy?"

"Thank you Dean. That's why I wanted to come back with you. You tell things as they are but you don't probe. And you don't look at me with pity in your eyes. Yet I can talk when I need to. Thank you. And no, I would like to think of something else for a while."

"Fair enough. We can do that, right Lilly?"

Lilly was probably the one who struggled most with the unique behavior of these two men but she nodded. "Sure. There are dishes to clean last time I checked. And I would really like to see my pictures on the wall, you could hang them."

"We will do that." Josh promised and was relived to keep his mind off of his dead mother for a little while. He would cope, just not tonight. And if he would ever be able to talk to his father again he simply didn't know at this point…

Roman left the gathering early. He really didn't want to bring home any casserole or what else his friends and family brought. He drove home to his apartment to sit in the dark with a bottle of beer in his hand, staring out the window.

He had still loved Danielle in a special way. Sure, they were this parents with benefits thing. Not really an item anymore but well, every once in a while they would spend the night. They had agreed to finish this if one of them found someone else. They never did.

Now she was gone, and this huge part of his life, the only constant apart from his Shield brothers was ripped out of his life forever. And he was afraid that he would lose his son in the process as well.

"Well Dani, I will fight for him. That is the only thing I know. But it will be an uphill battle, he has both our hard heads. But I will not give up. To you." He said aloud and raised his beer bottle in a silent salute.

**_A/N: One last chapter then this story is over! But fear not, part 3 is almost finished. It will feature Roman (of course). And even more good news. The Shield Universe will continue after part 3! So stay tuned!_**


	13. Chapter 13

**Epilogue**

It has been two month since the attack on Claire and the big show down where Seth shot her in the leg in order to save her.

They were still together but Seth felt the struggle inside of Claire. Sometimes she moved away from his touch, subtly, at first, telling him she forgot something, or she developed sudden thirst or she came up with something else. But he was persistent and wouldn't let her slip through his fingers.

Today was a big night for him. He and Claire had been the last in the office and they had just left the underground parking lot when Seth turned left instead of right.

"I need to run an errand." he explained her questioning stare.

Five minutes later he stopped in a little parking lot and got out.

"Can you help me?"

Claire got out and looked at the old building which lay dark before them.

"Sure, but what is it that you have to pick up here? Dust and dirt?"

"Nah..." he replied slowly while they walked to the front and Seth opened the door for her. The building had just two stories and Seth climbed the stairs up to the second floor.

Claire noticed that the building looked better on the inside. Everything was freshly painted it seemed and renovated.

"Are you coming?" Seth asked impatiently and she followed him up the stairs.

He opened a big door upstairs and searched for the light switch.

"Go in, light is up in a second." he urged Claire and she walked into the big dark loft.

Seth found the light switch and at the next second the room was illuminated and a lot of people called out "Surprise!" and some even whistled or blew into toy trumpets.

Claire looked around with wide eyes.

The loft was huge. Inside she found training mats, some typical training equipment, some mirrors on the walls and benches all around.

"What is this?" she asked looking at Seth for help.

"You told me about this thing. That you want to do self-defense classes. Help women or people in general. Dean had this place in his portfolio of places to hide..." Seth sent a pointed look at Dean who grinned, Lilly right by his side in his arms.

"Well, we renovated it, equipped it, and it can be your training facility. All the guys of Shield Inc. will help out with the training, we are currently looking for someone who will do this full time as well."

Now his eyes rested on the Danielson couple for a moment.

"But we would all help. It is yours if you want it."

He dangled a set of keys in front of her eyes.

"I...am speechless. I thought you forgot about it. I want it, of course I want it."

She jumped into Seth arms and hugged him fiercely.

He couldn't breathe for a second and set her down, falling down to one knee in the process.

"I have another question for you."

He fumbled in his jacket pocket and pulled out a diamond ring.

"Claire, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I would be the happiest man on earth if you would become my wife."

Everyone held their breath and Seth looked with hopeful eyes up at Claire.

Claire looked at Seth, at the beautiful ring and she felt the eyes of everyone in the room on her. She really hated to do this to Seth...again but she was an honest person.

"Seth, I will marry you one day, but right now I can't accept this ring yet. But I will. Just...not right away. But I accept this gym and the meaning behind it."

She pushed Seth hand with the ring away from her and looked apologetically.

Seth needed a moment to regroup. But finally he got up and smiled. "I won't give up, you know? I will keep asking you till you say yes."

"I know and I encourage you to do that." Claire hugged him and whispered a sorry in his ear.

The crowd behind them was still quiet and didn't know how to react.

Roman shot Dean a look and Dean mouthed _why me_ and Roman just urged him by nodding his head. Dean rolled his eyes dramatically which made Lilly and Josh who watched the silent exchange chuckle.

"Well, there will be food and beer in just a second. I am sure Seth needs one after this." Dean announced aloud to break the awkward silence and he then looked at Roman with raised eyebrows.

The Samoan shook his head grinning and stepped away to get the food.

"Next time break the silence yourself. It's always me who has to step in harm's way to refuse an explosive situation." Dean complained and followed Roman to get the food out on the tables in one corner. Lilly had outdone herself and had prepared some salads and finger food and Josh was already snacking on it when Roman walked up to him to slap him on the hand.

Josh glanced up at Roman and had the urge to stick out his tongue but Lilly defused this situation by pulling the teenager away. The differences between father and son were growing and they hardly ever talked anymore. Josh talked to Dean a lot, and he often stopped by to spend time with her boyfriend. They seemed to be close but she wished that father and son would find to each other again.

"Give me a hand here Josh." she said and put some plates in his hands.

Roman watched them step aside. He felt like he had lost his son and at the moment he didn't know how to get him back. The only thing Josh seemed to be interested in that had something to do with Roman was this gym and he had asked his father to train with him here. And Roman would do this just to be able to spend some time with the teenager.

Seth and Dean suddenly stood beside him.

"You two will work it out." Dean told him and clapped his shoulder. "And Claire will say yes eventually. She is just not ready yet. " Dean clapped Seth shoulder now.

"Who would have thought that Dean Ambrose becomes the wise one of the group?" Seth asked grinning.

"He could always talk but most of the time it was just bullshit. Now every now and then something useful finds its way _out_ of his mouth." Roman added and watched Dean put a piggy in a blanket in his mouth. The lunatic fringe grinned like a chipmunk.

"You have no idea what goes _in_ this mouth now as well." he said with his mouth full and walked over to the next table to put more stuff on his plate.

"Hey." Claire took his place beside Roman and Seth.

"Thank you Roman as well for this opportunity." "You're welcome. It is a good idea and something Dani would have supported. You will see a lot of Josh and I here. We will help out whenever we can. I am glad you are with us Claire. And I am glad you are with my brother." He squeezed her shoulder.

"And I will be there for you and your son if you need me, ok? You are holding up fine Roman. You are a great father even if your boy gives you a hard time right now." She hugged him and Roman accepted the hug and stepped away after that. It would take time to get over the loss. Right now it was still pretty raw but he hoped once he could reconnect to his son that they both could find happiness again.

"Next time say yes, alright?" Roman told Claire smiling and walked away.

"He is still having a hard time, Josh as well." Claire pointed out as she turned around to Seth and he put her in a tight embrace.

"It will take time but they will work it out. As will we."

Claire looked up at him. "As will we. I love you Colby."

"I love you too Claire." he replied and leaned down to kiss her.

-The End

A/N: That's it! Seth story is told. I am overwhelmed by your responses to this part! I am grateful that so many of you took the time to review and read this story. It came easy to write to me. I had it done in a couple of days and just needed to work on details. But the boys write themselves practically.

**The next part is Roman's story. Shield Inc.: Promise of the Juggernaut**

It is online right now! Go to my profile and from there to Roman's story!

And I have good news. The saga is not finished after this third part. There will be at least a short story featuring a very cute couple that had some cameos in the saga, and maybe there will be a forth installment. Because...SEAL Teams consist of four members (sometimes five..). So stay tuned!

**Again. from the bottom of my heart. Thank you! Danke schön! Merci! Gracias! Mille grazie! (that is all I can manage and probably half of it is spelled wrong) LOL**


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